190828

The

S outher n C ross

August 28 to September 3, 2019

Reg no. 1920/002058/06

no 5150

www.scross.co.za

Do our priests have financial security?

True stories from the streets

What we can learn from John Bradburne

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R12 (incl Vat RSa) associates-campaign

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SA priest now heads Oblate Rome house By eRIn CaReLSe

A

PRIEST from the Free State says his appointment as the Superior of the general house of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Rome is an exciting opportunity for the South African Oblates to respond to the needs of the congregation and the Church at large.

Fr Mokone Joseph Rathakoa now is in charge of the Oblates’ headquarters on Rome’s Via Aurelia, just over 2km from St Peter’s basilica.

The general house comprises three Oblate communities: the congregation’s central government comprising the superior-general and his council (11 members), the International Roman Scholasticate (19 members) and 28 Oblates residing in Rome.

Fr Rathakoa’s responsibilities as the superior of the general house involve leading and coordinating the life of the community, facilitating communication among the three communities living on the same property, and hospitality.

“One needs to be conversant in Italian as well as have a comfortable knowledge of other languages because of the multicultural dynamic of an international congregation,” Fr Rathakoa told The Southern Cross.

Fr Rathakoa said that he was thankful to his predecessor, Fr Thomas Klosterkamp, for his guidance and smooth handover since his appointment.

Fr Neil Frank, provincial of the OMI province of Southern Africa, said that the local congregation is proud that the central government had chosen one of their brothers from South Africa.

“It is the first time we have a superior from Africa, and Fr Rathakoa’s gentle, amiable nature will be much appreciated in this international setting,” Fr Frank said.

Born in 1965 in Grieselsdam, Free State, Fr Rathakoa entered Oblate formation in 1988, professed his first vows on February 6, 1991, at Our Lady of Hope novitiate in Germiston,

Bishop Frank nubuasah at his installation as bishop of gaborone. the 70-year-old bishop had previously headed the diocese of Francistown, also in Botswana, since 1998. Bishop nubuasah, a member of the Society of the Divine word, is flanked by archbishop Dabula Mpako of Pretoria (left) and apostolic nuncio archbishop Peter wells.

New bishop installed

By SR PHatSIMO RaMOkgweBana

T Fr Mokone Rathakoa OMI, the superior of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate’s general House in Rome.

Johannesburg.

As a scholastic, he had his initial formation at St Joseph’s Theological Institute, Cedara, from 1990-93, and continued in Rome at the International Scholasticate from 1993-96.

After professing the final vows in December 1995, he returned to South Africa. On December 6, 1997, he was ordained a priest at his home parish of Emmaus in Botshabelo, archdiocese of Bloemfontein.

He worked as a formator in the pre-novitiate in Rayton, Gauteng, from 1997 to 2000.

Fr Rathakoa was then sent to Rome, to study at the Institute of Psychology of the Gregorian University, from 2000-04, to equip himself with more knowledge and the skills needed for a formator.

On his return, he worked at St Joseph’s Theological Institute from 2004-09.

Continued on page 2

HE installation of Bishop Frank Nubuasah as the fourth bishop of the diocese of Gaborone attracted multitudes of people at the University of Botswana Indoor Sports Arena.

In attendance was Botswana’s President Dr Mokgweetsi Eric Masisi and the First Lady Neo Masisi, Batlokwa Paramount Chief Kgosi Puso Gaborone, and members of Botswana Council of Churches.

Archbishop Peter Wells, the apostolic nuncio to Southern Africa, metropolitan Archbishop Dabula Mpako of Pretoria and other bishops, clergy and religious attended as well.

Archbishop Mpako, as metropolitan of the diocese, presided over the installation of Bishop Nubuasah.

The archbishop urged the faithful and the clergy of the diocese of Gaborone to “work well with [their new bishop] through collaborating with him as a man of wisdom with fuller experience”.

Although things have not been easy for the Catholic community of Gaborone in the last few years, there is still hope for them to turn a new page of positivity in the book of history, he said.

After the bishop, a Divine Word Missionary who had headed the diocese of Francistown since 1998, took possession of his new

diocese, priests, deacons, religious and members of the diocesan pastoral council pledged their loyalty to him.

President Masisi told the congregation that Bishop Nubuasah “undoubtedly brings a wealth of experience with him which will contribute to the development of the Roman Catholic Church in Botswana and the welfare of Batswana in general”.

He called on the Church to be partners with the state in pursuing the common good of the nation.

The president acknowledged the significant contribution of religious institutions, in particular the Catholic Church, to Botswana’s socio-economic development.

Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference president Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha noted that “a bishop is not chosen for his own sake; rather he is chosen for the sake of pastoral work; [so] congratulations are more to you than to [Bishop Nubuasah]”.

Archbishop Wells told the congregation: “I have seen Bishop Frank as a true shepherd of his people, having a humble approach in everything he does, his loving care and concern for the poor, for young people for the sick and elderly and above all his compassion and mercy for those in need of being welcomed and embraced by his fatherly love.”

S outher n C ross Pilgrimage HOLY LAND & OBERAMMERGAU PASSION PLAY 21 Aug - 2 Sept. 2020 Led by Archbishop William Slattery OFM For more information or to book, please contact Gail at info@fowlertours.co.za or phone/WhatsApp 076 352-3809

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2

the Southern Cross, august 28 to September 3, 2019

LOCAL

Priests must have financial security, congress told N

O bishops’ conference in southern Africa has set up policies for the financial and other support of clergy, according to a priest of Eswatini.

“At best, we have seen pious statements not supported by real, serious policy decisions,” said Fr Dumisani Vilakati, who heads the pastoral department of the InterRegional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA), of which the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference is a member.

Fr Vilakati, a diocesan priest from Manzini, addressed the first Congress of the Clergy in Luanda, Angola. The congress was held by the bishops’ conference of Angola, São Tomé and Principe.

The congress took as its theme the self-sustainability of the clergy.

The fact that the region’s bishops’ conferences have not planned for clergy support causes “lots of anxiety among members of the clergy, who more often than not embark on self-help projects to make ends meet”, Fr Vilakati said.

While priests doing self-help projects “is not bad in itself, this may hamper the work of the Church as more time and energy are spent on projects and activities that are at times foreign to the missionary spirit expected of the clergy”, he said.

“It is a pity that after a hundred years” since Pope Benedict XV’s 1919 apostolic letter Maximum illud, on the Church’s missionary activity, “not even one episcopal

conference in the IMBISA region has created a policy on the proper care, material and financial support for members of the clergy.”

In southern Africa, churches mostly make their own arrangements for the sustenance and remuneration of priests, Fr Vilakati said.

“There is, in the main, a stable figure that gets paid to the priests every month,” he said, but monthly stipends and other allowances vary among different conferences.

Giving figures in US dollars, Fr Vilakati said that in the SACBC territory, a monthly stipend ranges from $150-250 (R2 300 to R3 800) plus about R1 500 a month for medical aid.

“The diocese or the parish normally provides and maintains the vehicle which the priest uses for his work. He is also allowed to use the vehicle for his private errands,” Fr Vilakati explained.

“Furthermore, the diocese, or even more specifically the parish, provides for residence including food and the general expenses of running a parish,” he said, noting that when the parish cannot afford all these things, the diocese usually intervenes.

Fr Vilakati said that, according to a colleague, the monthly allowance in Mozambique is between R750 and R1 500. In Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Namibia the figures range from about R1 500 to R3 000, plus occasional Mass offerings provided by the bishop.

“Some priests fall in the cracks,” Fr Vilakati said, noting that “this is especially true when it comes to the giving of regular monthly allowances, holiday allowances and medical assistance”.

Even within the same countries, priests often have very different economic situations, he said.

Dioceses that create a fair system of sharing resources are “few and varied”, Fr Vilakati said. Their good practices should be modelled by others in the region, along with transparent administration, he added.

Fr Vilakati noted that his research included only diocesan clergy, especially those engaged in parish work.

He referred to the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, Presbyterorum ordinis, which “emphasises the bishop’s duty on two important matters”.

Firstly, he has to remind the faithful of their responsibility to provide for the priests’ sustenance.

“The second duty of the bishop, which flows from the first, is to see to it that the priest enjoys a proper holiday each year,” Fr Vilakati said.

Presbyterorum ordinis also insists that where social security for priests does not exist, the local bishops’ conference is expected to implement it.

“This becomes a form of solidarity as larger and probably richer dioceses come to the aid of smaller and or poorer ones,” Fr Vilakati said.

Souther n Cros s Pilgrimage

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nkandla agape personified! gathered for a reunion of work, heart and spirit in nkandla, kwazulu-natal were (from left) Maria ntombela, 81, Sr Sola Schaumann, 99, and anna ntombela, 100. (Photo: Sydney Duval)

Reunion’s average age: 93

By SyDney DuVaL

T

HREE women with an average age of 93 gathered together in a reunion of work, heart and spirit in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal.

Anna Ntombela, who is 100 years old, and her daughter Maria Ntombela, 81, met up with Nardini Franciscan Sister Sola Schaumann, who is 99.

Maria is the sole survivor of eight siblings.

The Ntombelas joined Sr Sola in 1989 when she set up Sizanani Huts to get craftwork going as a way of providing skills that could

put food on the table through beadwork, knitting, weaving, spinning and dyeing.

Reading, writing and Bible study were also part of the community development outreach established by Sr Sola to help alleviate poverty.

Sr Sola has been honoured by Pope Francis and the German government for her work in health care and poverty alleviation, going back to 1959 when she began working as matron of the Nkandla hospital established by the Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing in 1939.

Retired Sisters welcomed old friend, the bishop

By MICHaeL PRaVetz

D

OMINICAN Sisters were delighted when their old friend, a retired bishop, came to visit them.

It was a reunion when Bishop Reginald Cawcutt, retired auxiliary in Cape Town, visited the Sisters at their retirement home, Rosary House, in Springfield.

He had worked with many of the Cabra Dominican Sisters throughout his many years in the priesthood prior to his retirement.

Both Bishop Cawcutt and the Sisters ministered to the deaf community, often crossing paths in their respective ministries. Bishop Cawcutt can conduct a Mass in sign language.

Rosary House has a spirited atmosphere, with daily Mass in their modern chapel, wholesome meals in their newly-renovated dining room, excellent nursing care, and spacious, comfortable and friendly community rooms—the deserved “perks” after their many years of selfless service.

The Cabra Dominicans arrived in South Africa 156 years ago.

Cabra, meaning “poor land” in Gaelic, is the section of Dublin where that congregation of the Do-

Bishop Reginald Cawcutt has a chat with Sr anthanatius Melican OP, aged 98. minican Order opened its first convent.

By coincidence of God’s design, when Bishop Cawcutt was made a bishop in 1992, he was named the titular bishop of Cabra, which was a diocese near the Spanish city of Seville.

SA priest heads up Oblates’ Rome HQ Continued from page 1 After a stint as novice master at the Germiston novitiate in Germiston, in 2010-11, Fr Rathakoa’ was appointed provincial of the Oblates’ central province of South Africa. He remained in that office until the amalgamation of the three South African Oblate provinces in 2018.

He had concluded a sabbatical year when he was appointed superior of the Oblates’ general house in Rome.

“I am grateful to my home provincial, Fr Neil Frank, for the opportunities I had to live and serve in

Southern Africa, and now to Fr Louis Lougen, the superior general, and his Council for giving me an obedience to serve the Oblate congregation in this position,” Fr Rathakoa said.

Other South Africans at the general house are: Fr Peter Foley, the assistant to the general treasurer; Fr Callistus Khathali, a formator at the International Roman Scholasticate; Fr Sebastian Rossouw, who is pursuing studies in Scripture; and Br Louis Sechogela OMI, a scholastic at the International Roman Scholasticate.

the Southern Cross, august 28 to September 3, 2019

LOCAL

3

Theologian hits the road to raise funds By eRIn CaReLSe

A

Br John nhlanhla Mhlanga OMI, who is calling fellow cyclists in the amashova Durban Classic to join him in raising funds for learners.

N Oblate theologian will hit the asphalt on his bicycle in October to raise funds for the community outreach programme of St Josephs’s Theological Institute (SJTI) in Cedara, KwaZulu-Natal.

Br John Nhlanhla Mhlanga OMI will be cycling in the 106km Tsogo Sun Amashova Durban Classic, South Africa’s oldest road classic cycle race from Pietermaritzburg to Durban which attracts more than 10 000 cyclists nationally.

Br Mhlanga began taking part in cycle races last year; the Amashova 2019 will be his fourth and perhaps most difficult race yet.

Br Mhlanga is the financial administrator and a lecturer in moral theology at St Joseph’s Theological Institute. He is also a formator for the Oblate students who are training for the priesthood or preparing for ministry as Oblate Brothers at the institute.

This year St Joseph’s established an “engagement hub” to facilitate community outreach and social engagement.

“We realised the need to engage with the Church and society by providing, firstly a space for such engagement, and secondly programmes through which we can reach out to the community,” Br Mhlanga said.

“The idea of building a multipurpose facility—which we have come to refer to as the Engagement Hub—was born, and we began thinking of immediate ways to engage the community,” he said.

Recently Br Mhlanga was told that some students from the local combined school had been hit by a train while taking a short cut because they stayed far and could not afford transport fare.

“This was very tragic and heartbreaking. The one lingering question was, what can I do to help? It was then that I thought I would cycle for a cause.”

The SJTI Amashova 2019 is meant to raise funds for the support of school children from the local school in Sbongumbomvu.

Support will be threefold: • It will sponsor some disadvantaged matriculants to get to study for a degree in theology and philosophy by offering full-tuition scholarships to at least six students at the cost of R35 000 per year per student at St Joseph’s Theological Institute.

• It will also pay for transport for some local Sbongumbomvu students who often miss class because they do not have money for transport to school and are vulnerable to dangers if they have to walk.

• It will sponsor school uniforms for some students from the local

Sbongumbomvu Combined School.

An online fundraising platform has been set up.

“We hope that in the weeks leading to the Amashova 2019 on October 20, we will get more funds coming in,” Br Mhlanga said, adding that the students who will be the initial group of beneficiaries have already been identified.

Cyclists who are willing to participate in the Amashova 2019 to raise funds for St Joseph’s can be part of the online campaign. They will be wearing St Joseph’s cycling jerseys that will have at the back written, “I am cycling for [name of student]”.

“We want to impact the lives of real people with real stories who are living in situations of real need and we can offer them real hope and a real chance of a better future,” said Br Mhlanga.

The back of his cycling jersey will sport the slogan, “I am cycling for Sthabile”.

Sthabile is a young grade 12 student who cannot make it to school all the time because of transport problems.

“A testimonial from one of her teachers says that she is one of the best students in her year class. Such a student needs all the help she can get and there are many more out there like Sthabile,” said Br Mhlanga.

Bishop condemns violence against albinos

By BROnwen DaCHS

T

HE Church in Africa must work to end violence against people with albinism through its schools and other education efforts, according to Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha, president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

“It’s the mindset that needs to be changed,” said Bishop Sipuka, noting that superstitions are entrenched.

About 150 people with albinism have been killed for their body parts since 2014 in countries that include Tanzania (with 76, the

highest number of killings), Malawi, Mozambique and Congo, Amnesty International said in a statement from Johannesburg.

Across southern Africa, albinos “live in fear of being killed or abducted for their body parts”, Amnesty International said.

“These waves of violent attacks are fuelled by the false and dangerous myth that body parts of persons with albinism can make someone rich,” it said. The body of a person with albinism can bring many thousands of rands on the black market.

Albinism is a congenital condition that leaves people without

a Malawian boy with albinism. the Church in africa must work to end violence against albinos, according to Bishop Sithembele Sipuka.

(Photo: LawILInk, courtesy amnesty International) colouration in their skin and hair.

“It is simply a biological condi-

tion,” said Bishop Sipuka.

“We need to educate people about albinism in our schools, catechisms and sermons,” he said, noting that “everybody is created in the likeness of God, and we need to acknowledge and protect that”.

He said bishops in countries such as Malawi and Tanzania, where violence against albinos is “most brutal”, have the support of the Church in other African countries in their calls for stronger action to end it.

Not only physical violence but also negative attitudes towards people with albinism “are totally unacceptable,” Bishop Sipuka said.

Young students build leadership

By DIOn MkHOSana

W

HAT we need in South Africa is “mindful leadership at the service of the common good”.

This was the prayer and effort of 23 young leaders during a three-day workshop held by Young Christian Students (YCS) at Christ the King parish, Soweto, Johannesburg.

In Women’s Month, the workshop celebrated the contribution of women to South Africa’s society.

Schools from Vanderbijlpark, Soweto and Parktown gathered to discover that leadership-building can be fun.

YCS is a Catholic-based interfaith movement which is active in more than 80 countries to enable young people to build their own leadership. Often this includes projects and campaigns that benefit the rest of the society.

Participants in a young Christian Students workshop held at Christ the king parish in Soweto.

On the second day of the workshop, the young leaders went around picking up litter in the streets around the venue as part of their community service.

Other activities included meditation, praise and worship as well as a fun-filled talent show.

The workshop was organised and facilitated by the chairperson Bonke Msibi, with the support of her schoolmates from McAuley House, a Catholic school in Parktown, Johannesburg, and others.

YCS uses the “See-Judge-Act” method inspired by Cardinal Joseph Cardijn.

When using the See-Judge-Act method as a tool for analysis and action, participants agreed that women are equal to men and it is time for everybody to work together to stop the abuse of women and children in society.

Prayer and social action can bring about genuine transformation for our communities and society so that all people can live without fear and threats, respecting each other and enjoy a good life, the workshop was told.

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Parishes throughout the region should work on encouraging friendships between albinos and others, particularly among the young, he said.

Amnesty International said that the leaders of the Southern African Development Community “must send a clear message that those who perpetrate these attacks will be brought to justice”.

They “must tackle the root causes of these targeted attacks”, Amnesty said, noting that “it is intolerable that persons with albinism continue to live at the mercy of these criminal gangs”.— CNS

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the Southern Cross, august 28 to September 3, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

Pell to be in jail until 2022 A FTER an Australian appeals court upheld the conviction of Cardinal George Pell on five counts of sexually assaulting two choirboys more than two decades ago, lawyers for the jailed former archbishop of Sydney said they would not appeal his six-anda-half-year jail sentence.

Chief Justice Anne Ferguson of the Supreme Court of Victoria said that Cardinal Pell must continue to serve at least three years and eight months of his sentence. “Whether he will be released on parole will be a decision of the adult parole board, not the court,� she said. Cardinal Pell would therefore nbe released at the earliest when he is 81.

His appeal was dismissed on all three grounds the defence presented.

Cardinal Pell, a former Vatican official and the most senior Church official to be convicted of sexual abuse anywhere in the world, can appeal the decision to the High Court of Australia.

The decision from the threejudge panel followed a two-day hearing on June 5-6 in which Cardinal Pell, 78, and his attorneys argued that his December 2018 conviction on five counts of sexually assaulting two choirboys was “unreasonable� given the evidence presented.

The conviction occurred during the second trial for Cardinal Pell.

The first trial in September 2018 resulted in a hung jury.

The Vatican continues to conduct its own investigation of the cardinal, but has indicated that no actions will be taken until Cardinal Pell’s legal options have been exhausted.

In a statement Cardinal Pell’s spokesperson Katrina Lee said that the Cardinal Pell maintains his innocence�. “Cardinal Pell is obviously disappointed with the decision, but

a goat consumes buckthorn shrubs at St Mary Catholic Cemetery in appleton, wisconsin in the uS. twelve goats help rid the cemetery of the invasive species of shrub. (Photo: Brad Birkholz/the Compass/CnS) Cardinal george Pell arrives at the County Court in Melbourne for his sentencing. an appeals court has upheld the conviction of the cardinal, who received a six-and-a-half-year jail sentence. (Photo: Daniel Pockett, aaP images via Reuters/CnS) his “legal team will thoroughly examine the judgment in order to determine a special leave application to the High Court�.

Judge Ferguson noted that “his case has divided the community�.

She said the judges had reached the decision after each of them had watched video of the evidence given by 12 of the 24 witnesses who appeared in the trial. “Each of the judges has read [the trial] transcript, some parts of it multiple times,� Justice Ferguson added, referring to the more than 2 000 pages of documents related to the trial.

She said the court was split 2-1 on the cardinal’s argument that the conviction was “unreasonable� given the evidence presented at trial to convict him beyond a reasonable doubt. “Justice [Chris] Maxwell and I accepted the prosecutor’s submission that the complainant was a compelling witness, was clearly not a liar, was not a fantasist and was a witness of truth,� Justice Ferguson said.

Justice Mark Weinberg agreed with Cardinal Pell’s attorneys.

“Where the unreasonableness ground is relied upon, the task for the appeal court is to decide whether, on the whole of the evidence, it was open to the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was guilty,â€? Justice Ferguson explained. “Having reviewed the whole of the evidence, two of the judges‌ decided that it was open to the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt,â€? she said. “In other words, those judges decided that there was nothing about the complainant’s evidence, or about the opportunity evidence, which meant that the jury ‘must have had a doubt’.â€?

The chief justice said that the three judges unanimously agreed to reject the two other grounds for appeal: that the cardinal should have presented his not guilty plea in person to the trial jury in December rather than by video, and that the cardinal’s lawyers were not permitted to play a 19-minute animation to the jury in their closing statement.—CNS/CNA n See also page 7.

Natural weedeater: goats clear cemetery of thorns

By PatRICIa kaSten

G

OATS tend to get a bad rap in Church traditions—with the devil often portrayed with goat horns and hoofs, and Jesus speaking of separating goats from sheep.

But at St Mary Cemetery in Appleton in the US state of Wisconsin, goats are getting positive reviews.

In early July, five goats arrived in the cemetery from a farm in nearby Black Creek. They’re helping tackle the cemetery’s problem with buckthorn, an aggressive, invasive species of shrub that had overtaken the cemetery’s riverbank. “We had been working the last couple of years to clean up the riverbank, to give a little better view of the river,� explained Brian Dresang, cemetery director. “We ran into an issue with buckthorn.

Buckthorn will tear you apart if you get into it.�

The cemetery considered using herbicides to kill the shrub. “Herbicide is quicker, but we thought it was better to do it natu-

rally,� Mr Dresang said. “We were afraid of killing off other things: lots of deer, turkeys, squirrels, chipmunks. We figured it would harm them too. This is a definitely longer process but, in the long run, it’s a lot better.�

It turns out goats don’t hate buckthorn like humans do. In fact it’s the opposite. “Buckthorn is like hot apple pie to goats, it’s like their favourite thing,� Mr Desang said. “It’s amazing the amount they eat,� said Mr Dresang. “They are only about a metre high, but do they eat a lot of stuff. �

The goats have been welcomed by visitors, who come to see the voracious weed-eaters. Many people take photos and children love to watch them. One father brings his four small sons almost daily.

Since the goats find their own food, the cemetery only needs to supply a source of fresh water daily. Mr Dresang estimated the nine-acre cemetery has at least two acres of ravines and riverbank. So, if the goats don’t finish their work this year, they’ll return the next.— CNS

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Fr. Frank Pavone

ighting and ending abortion is priority number one, both for the Church, the state, the family, and each of us individually..

I want to issue once again a call I have issued consistently since 1993. The …ƒŽŽ –‘ †‡˜‘–‡ ƒŽŽ ‘Â?‡ǯ• –‹Â?‡ǥ ‡Â?‡”‰›ǥ ƒÂ?† ”‡•‘—”…‡• –‘ †‡ˆ‡Â?†‹Â?‰ –Š‡ ›‘—Â?‰‡•– children from the violence of abortion. There are many people {in the US and in South Africa}, who are living that call, and even more who, while not able to do so full-time, are giving as much time and energy as they can to ending abortion and restoring protection to children in the womb.

The Most Urgent Issue Today: Is not immigration, or climate change, or terrorism. The most urgent issue is abortion. It has been so for a long time and remains so today.

Many issues are urgent. But as the U.S. bishops have taught for decades, these issues are like the different parts of a house, all interrelated, but all dependent on the foundation. Abortion strikes at the foundation of the house, the right to life. (See Living the Gospel of Life.)

We will never build a society that feeds the poor if we refuse to feed our own children; we will never teach children to stop killing other children (by gun violence) until parents stop killing children by abortion; ÇĽ ÇĽ and we will never maintain peace between nations if we cannot maintain peace between a mother and her own child.

The call is to everyone, to do as much as is humanly possible in this most urgent human rights cause of our day. Both reason and compassion call us to put first things first. We must end abortion.

Fr. Frank Pavone ‹• ƒ–‹‘Â?ƒŽ ‹”‡…–‘” ‘ˆ ”‹‡•–• ˆ‘” Â‹ÂˆÂ‡ÇĄ ‘Â?‡ ‘ˆ –Š‡ ™‘”Ž†ǯ• Žƒ”‰‡•– ‘”‰ƒÂ?‹œƒ–‹‘Â?s focused exclusively on ending abortion. See article here: http://tiny.cc/bbf5az

INTERNATIONAL

the Southern Cross, august 28 to September 3, 2019

Burundi puts martyrs on sainthood course

5

By FRanCIS nJuguna

T

HE grisly murders of missionary priests and a local priest, a lay volunteer and 40 seminarians in Burundi are the focus of a recently opened investigation into their sainthood cause.

Catholic bishops in this central African nation welcomed the step petitioned to the Vatican by the Xaverian Missionaries, founded in 1898 by St Guido Conforti as the Pious Society of St Francis Xavier for Foreign Missions.

The Church in Burundi “wants to celebrate a group of people who, in the name of Jesus, offered their lives to show that our fraternity in Christ is more important than belonging to an ethnic group”, the country’s bishops said in a statement.

The step was approved by the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes.

The killings occurred at different times and places in the country.

Those who died include two Italian Xaverian Missionary priests, Frs Ottorino Maule, 53, and Aldo Marchiol, 65; lay volunteer Catina Gubert, 74; local priest Fr Michael Kayoya, 38; and the seminarians.

The Italian missionaries and Ms Gubert were killed on September 30, 1995, at Buyengero parish.

Frs Ottorino Maule and aldo Marchiol with lay volunteer Catina gubert. an investigation into the sainthood cause of the three missionary martyrs killed in Burundi has been opened. (Photo: Xaverian Missionaries) Fr Kayoya was executed in Gitega on May 17, 1972, with 50 others imprisoned by the government during a dispute between majority Tutsi and minority Hutu people. Those imprisoned were Hutu.

“He was a priest, poet and philosopher,” the Burundi Church recounted. “He always emphasised those ethnic differences, more than being a threat, are a wealth, and a mutual gift. ” The killing of the 40 seminarians, according to a Church account, occurred in the pre-dawn hours of April 30, 1997, when rebels attacked the minor seminary of Buta in the dio-

cese of Bururi.

Faced with the refusal of the seminarians to separate according to ethnicity, the bandits opened fire, killing 40 young people.

The rebels fled after ransacking the seminary and adjacent pastoral centre.

The Burundian bishops in their message stressed that “these brothers and this sister in Christ are the heroes that we, the bishops of Burundi, present to the universal Church, to be officially declared martyrs and are for us all models of fraternity in Christian life and also in our whole Burundian society.”—CNS

DR Congo Church: Our rich resources have become our great misfortune

F

OREIGN companies working in the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ought to contribute part of their profits to local development programmes, said an official of the country’s Catholic bishops’ conference.

Mgr Donatien Nshole, secretarygeneral of the bishops’ conference, said in a presentation in Kinshasa that the country’s economy “rests on exploitation of natural resources”, but that the Congolese people have seen few benefits from the extractive industry.

“Instead of contributing to our country’s development and benefitting our people, however, our mineral, petrol and forest resources have become the cause of our misfortune,” he said in discussing reports

on the African country’s mining, agricultural and environmental sectors commissioned by the Catholic Church’s Episcopal Commission for Natural Resources.

“Our fellow-citizens find themselves stripped of their lands, without any reward or compensation, through concessions and sales made to this or that mine or forest exploiter,” he added.

The reports called for companies to pay between 3,5% and 10% into a new community development fund for reinvestment in roads, wells, schools, hospitals and infrastructural projects to benefit local inhabitants.

The United Nations has confirmed that DRC’s armed conflicts mostly qualified as “economic,

predatorial wars”, but that the foreign companies involved in exploiting the country’s resources had signed contracts or made purchases from Congolese politicians and intermediaries.

“Since it’s also Congolese who manage these sectors, we should also ask ourselves who shares the responsibility, especially since it’s generally held that the exploitation of natural resources, especially in mining, brings no profit to our population,” said Mgr Nshole.

Catholic leaders for years have criticised the exploitation of resources in the DRC, where 4,5 million people have been displaced by conflict and a fifth of the population needs basic assistance, according to UN statistics.—CNS

Syrian Christians fear Turkish attack

By DaLe gaVLak

G

ROUPS representing Christians in north-east Syria are appealing for prayer, fearful that Turkey plans to make good its numerous threats to invade the region with its military forces.

Since November 2018, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to launch a large military operation east of the Euphrates River to “clear Kurdish terrorists” from the area.

Syriac Christians view it as a pretext to enter more of Syria in a bid to change the north-east’s demographic

of Kurds and Christians, just as Turkey did in Afrin in March 2018.

The Christians’ appeal was issued by the Syriac National Council of Syria, the Syriac Union Party, and the American Syriac Union.

Turkey has “massed its army and allied jihadists along the border.

Even though the US and French armies are present in north-east Syria, we know that Turkey will attack and destroy us,” the three Syriac Christian groups said.

They are appealing to US leaders to intervene on their behalf to aid the 100 000 Christians in the region

who they say are at risk.

They warned that Turkey and its jihadist allies, including fighters from al-Qaede and ISIS, could carry out “a massacre just as they did in Afrin in 2018, when the churches of Afrin were burned and the Christians and Yazidis there were hunted down.

In north-east Syria, it would be much worse and destroy many more people”.

“This is why we release an urgent call for prayer that the US and France will make the decision to protect north-east Syria from a Turkish invasion,” the statement said.—CNS

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thomas Heine-geldern, executive president of aid to the Church in need International, shows Pope Francis one of the rosaries which are made in Bethlehem. (Photo: Vatican media)

Pope Francis gives 6 000 rosaries to Syrian Catholics

By COuRtney gROgan

P

OPE Francis has announced that he is giving 6 000 blessed rosaries to Catholic communities in Syria as a sign of his closeness to them.

“Prayer made with faith is powerful! We continue to pray the rosary for peace in the Middle East and in the whole world,” Pope Francis said in his Angelus message.

The pope blessed the rosaries made by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need in Bethlehem, West Bank and said that the Syrian families that lost someone because of the war are close to his heart.

“Every time we take the rosary into our hands and pray with it, we take a step towards the great goal of life,” Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis said that Mary exalts in the greatness in the Lord and invites everyone to raise their eyes to the great things that the Lord accomplished in her.

“Mary shows us that if we want our life to be happy, God must be placed first, because he alone is great,” he said.

Mary, as every mother, wants the best for her children, the pope explained. He said that Mary tells each person: “You are precious in the eyes of God; you are not made for the small fulfillment of the world, but for the great joys of heaven.”

“Let us be attracted by true beauty, let us not be sucked into the smallness of life, but choose the greatness of heaven,” Pope Francis said.—CNA

India expels Spanish nun who serves poor

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HE Indian government has expelled an elderly Spanish nun who had ministered to the country's poor people for five decades.

Daughters of Charity Sister Enedina, 86, had her visa renewal refused and was then told by the government she had ten days to leave the country, ucanews.com reported.

The nun, who trained as a medical doctor, had helped poor people in the country's east since the mid1960s.

Sr Martha Pradhan, provincial leader of the congregation’s North India province, said Sr Enedina had renewed her visa periodically since she arrived in me to Behrampur in 1965, but the government rejected her application this time around.

“She applied online to renew her visa in the first week of August, paid the fees and completed all the formalities. ...We then received the notice that she had to leave the country within ten days,” Sr Pradhan said.

“We were not told why the visa was not renewed.”

India’s ministry of external affairs

deals with visa issues but maintains a policy of not stating any reason when a visa is denied.

The development comes amid criticism that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was reelected in May in a landslide, has been supportive of hardline Hindu groups pushing to make India a Hindu-only nation.

Hindu groups have been demanding the expulsion of all foreign missionaries from India, accusing them of using social work as a facade for converting Dalit and tribal people to Christianity.

Sr Enedina earned bachelor’s degrees in medicine and surgery in 1959. Arriving in Berhampur several years later, she opened a health clinic serving the needs of local people, primarily tribal and socially poor Dalit people. She later moved to another locale, serving the same communities.

Sr Enedina’s 54-year missionary career as a doctor, nurse and teacher caused “many in the area to consider her their mother”, Sr Pradhan said.— CNS

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LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

The Bradburne cause matine Father Michele D’Annucci of Pretoria.

But sainthood causes are expensive and require great longterm dedication from those who are advancing them. Lack of capacity and resources might explain the demographic imbalance in the current candidates for the causes for canonisation.

The causes also require the demonstrable existence of what is known as a cult, that is, a strong, persistent and widespread devotion to the candidate.

This serves as a reminder that our devotions need not be limited only to those who have been canonically recognised as saints or blessed. While it is wholly commendable to invoke the existing saints in our prayers, we are likewise at liberty to ask for the intercessions of deceased people who have not been beatified or canonised.

Canonisation is the Church’s official confirmation that the person in question is indeed with God—a saint. This then allows for officially-sanctioned devotions and other privileges.

There is nothing, however, to preclude us from having devotions to those who have not been canonised, including John Bradburne.

Indeed, we may even call on our saintly granny or parish priest in heaven for their intercession. God will not disregard their prayers because they lack the seal of canonical recognition.

But the function of sainthood is not limited to their powers of intercession; they can also help us deepen our faith and inspire us to personal growth.

The life of John Bradburne certainly provides a model of faith worthy of inspiration.

He would be a good patron saint for those afflicted by diseases that exclude them from society; for converts to the Catholic faith; for lay Franciscans and lay missionaries; for soldiers; for poets (Bradburne is said to be history’s most prolific poet in English); for those in need of courage; and for those who persevere when they are told, “You cannot stay here.”

May the devotion to John Bradburne grow, and may the path leading to his eventual canonisation be straight and free of obstacles.

Look to women in the Bible

W

Prepare now for Christmas charity

Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. the letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate.

Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

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

W

ITH Christmas approaching quite soon, individuals or Church groups will want to do extra to help the needy.

Shelters for street children or homeless people need soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, face clothes, nail brushes, hair combs, and so on.

New or clean second-hand towels and handkerchiefs are also useful.

They also need dishwashing liquid, scourers, kitchen cleaners, kitchen clothes, toilet cleaner, toilet paper, and so on.

Donors can start now looking out for specials on of these items. It may be cheaper to buy them now than nearer to Christmas.

If each parishioner who can afford it donates just one item, it would help the people living in these shelters.

JM Thomson, Johannesburg

Let’s celebrate!

S

O we are told the priesthood is royal. When will men live up to what they wear?

The latest scandal: Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, one of Pope Francis’s first episcopal appointments in his home country of Argentina, is at the centre of a phone-porn scandal.

I must say—perhaps I am naive—that I didn’t even know this kind of thing existed till the good bishop was revealed.

Worse than this, after having to leave the diocese of Oran he was appointed by the pope as an assessor of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (he has been suspended from that position

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Abortion alert

T

after being formally charged of abusing two seminarians between 2016-17).

There the pope is hugging the man whom seminarians accuse of abuse; will somebody listen to them?

I am afraid i am still yet to meet a man who has become a man by being a priest. Like a boys’ club starved of what God made good— sexual relations in a monogamous marriage—they bless and confess and marry, but really, what are their needs?

There Jesus is hanging on the cross and for the love of God there are some who are worse than sinners.

Lucy Moll, Pretoria

Is the priesthood really that royal?

MONASTERY RETREAT HOUSE

O

N September 8 it will be the Blessed Virgin Mary’s birthday.

Let’s celebrate!

It was John the Baptist’s birthday on June 24, and, of course, it will be Jesus’ birthday on December 25.

I truly love everybody’s birthdays: it’s the great gift we get from God. Thus, I celebrate somebody’s birthday every day. It’s so much fun.

May your own birthday, whenever it is, be a wonderful and happy one.

Wil Ulisten, Knysna

HERE is a certain part of our Catholic faith which is never mentioned today in our parish pulpits, namely that the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae (1968) prohibits artificial birth control.

This concept consists of the following two categories: Firstly, the preventative barriers, such as the condom and the diaphragm, which prevent creation by conception.

Secondly the abortifacient methods, such as the intra-uterine device, and the most popular method, the Pill, which can destroy new lives after conception and thus fall in the category of murder.

Several years ago, in an attempt to reduce the large-scale ignorance of abortifacient birth control and its potentially murderous results, I printed cards against the Pill based on US pro-life activist Randy Alcorn’s erudite booklet Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions? (it can be read at www.epm.org).

The cards can be obtained by telephoning me at 011 782-3088.

The present ignorance of our faithful of the murderous potential of the abortifacient birth control is just as serious as our nation’s legalisation of abortion, and, like this evil, must be eradicated urgently.

Damian McLeish, Johannesburg

Lucky Cape Town

I

JUST want to write in to say that I absolutely agree with Ron Maroun (August 14) who said he is inspired by the articles by Fr Ralph de Hahn.

How lucky the Catholics in Cape Town are to have such a wonderful priest in their archdiocese.

Linda Jackson, Johannesburg

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Bishops: We must act on SA’s violence STAFF REPORTER

T Archbishop Dabula Mpako ordained Rev Harry Bopape (left) and Rev Johannes Sibanyoni (right) to the transitory diaconate at Sacred Heart cathedral in Pretoria. The transitory diaconate is the final step before ordination to the priesthood. (Photo: Mathibela Sebothoma)

Soccer boss’ racism slammed A RA CIST slur by a leading German football functionar y has created an opportunity for a Catholic development agency to correct misconceptions about Africa.

The development aid organisation Misereor, which has a long record of supporting projects in Southern Africa and other regions of the continent, condemned a speech made

by Clemens Tönnies, the chairman of the Schalke 04 club.

In a speech protesting against tax increases in the fight against climate change, Mr Tönnies suggested financing 20 power plants in Africa per year.

“Then the Africans would stop cutting down trees and stop making children when it gets dark,” the billionaire businessman said.

After a huge public outcry, he apologised for his remark and volunteered to a threemonth suspension from his post at Schalke, a club which once counted Pope John Paul II among its honorar y members.

The comment was “undoubtedly marked by racist stereotypes”, Misereor CEO Martin Bröckelmann-Simon said, according to the German Catholic news agency KNA.

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image” of society.

Women had a rich role in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Individual women in the Bible have placed the role of females on the pedestal of our everyday thoughts.

It will serve Catholic men well if they accumulate more readings on Tamar, a woman of hope; Rahab, a woman of faith; Ruth, a woman of love; Bathsheba, a woman who received unlimited grace; and Mary, a woman of obedience.

In the words of the businesswoman Sheryl Sandberg: “Gender is a social construct. Therefore the most important thing is to have a more open and honest dialogue about gender issues.”

Alvin Botes, Kimberley

OMEN in South Africa historically have been subjected to the brunt of oppression because of their gender, their race and their class.

It is for this reason that employment equity decrees that white South African women should get preference over black South African men. This demonstrates a seriousness about the past injustices perpetuated against women in general.

Two portraits of women frame the Book of Proverbs: wisdom, personified as a woman (1-9), and the “woman of substance” (31:10-31).

Our biblical authors referred to the crucial role of women as a social fabric, and men should appreciate the fact that woman is the “mirror-

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Pilg grr i m a Pilgrimage 2020

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HERE will be much rejoicing when the archdiocese of Harare officially launches the sainthood cause for John Bradburne on September 5, the 40th anniversary of his violent death.

There are many Catholics, in southern Africa and in England especially, who have been awaiting this moment with some impatience. It cannot be said that the wait for the initiation of the cause has been inordinately long, but it might have been held up by legitimate concerns about political sensitivities surrounding the nature of Bradburne’s death at the hands of ZANU soldiers in the midst of the war for Zimbabwe’s independence.

Bradburne was a collateral victim of a nasty war. And he chose to remain in the precarious position that got him killed, ignoring warnings to seek safe shelter, because his faith called him to remain with the people he served at Mutemwa leprosy camp.

Even as his faith compelled him to face peril, his executors killed Bradburne not because of his faith, but because of the absence of Christ in their hearts.

Technically, this might not suffice to describe Bradburne as a martyr—such a claim is less clear than it was in the cause of Bl Benedict Daswa—but a martyr by any other definition he certainly was.

To the devotees of Bradburne, the manner of his death is only part of the story. The life journey of John Bradburne, a modern pilgrimage of profound and self-sacrificing faith, is inspiring in many ways. He was a seeker, a mystic, a servant to those on the outer margins of the periphery, and so on.

His cause will join several others currently active in southern Africa. Two of those have already reached the stage of beatification: those of Bl Benedict Daswa (beatified in 2015), and the missionary Fr Joseph Gérard OMI (1988).

Others are in their early stages.

These include the causes of Abbot Franz Pfanner, the founder of Mariannhill, and Domitilla Rota Hyams, founder of the Little Eden homes.

Groundwork is being done to eventually secure approval for the initiation of sainthood causes for Archbishop Denis Hurley of Durban and the murdered Stig-

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.

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The German government’s commissioner for Africa, Günter Nooke, also condemned Mr Tönnies’ remarks.

He said that problems such as the disappearance of the rainforest and population growth in African are “real, and must be discussed, if necessar y controversially”.

However, according to Mr BröckelmannSimon, the central African rainforest is not disappearing because of missing power plants, but because of “continuing logging”, the exploitation of natural resources, and the advancing plantation economy—and all that is happening for the European market.

Mr Bröckelmann-Simon said it was “unbearable” that one might ascribe population growth in Africa to people’s “uncontrolled impulses to reproduce”. Rather, the situation of population growth should be addressed by better income, more education for women and girls as well as basic public ser vices delivered by responsibly governed states.

He noted that “it is precisely us [Weesterners] who are the greater burden on our global ecosystem, much more than the Africans”.

That must be part of the agenda “if we really want to seriously discuss global overpopulation”.

HE bishops of Southern Africa have expressed their alarm at the escalating violence in society which is expressed in ser vice deliver y protests and violence against women—and said that the leaders of the Church need to do more to address these issues.

They noted that “the almost universal ‘service delivery protests...are the source of the growing culture of destruction of property”.

This culture also penetrates into the family, “where much violence is taking place”, the bishops said in a statement.

The family, therefore, “has to be the place where we focus of our fight against the culture of violence, which is destroying us as a people”, they said.

“In particular we commit ourselves to making a special effort to make the safety of women a major priority in the Catholic Church.”

The bishops urged all in South Africa, “starting with our leaders, to cultivate a culture of respect for life and limb, a culture of responsibility towards the weaker ones in society, and accountability for how we are keeping our brothers and sisters”.

“Wee urge especially our political leaders to live up to the expectations, hopes and aspirations of those who voted them into positions of ser vice and responsibility by doing their duties faithfully and as a sign of their patriotism,” the bishops said.

The bishops aligned themselves with the analysis of concerns voiced by Bishop Sithembele Sipuka, president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, who in his address at this month’s plenary session in Mariannhill urged the Church to identify and deal with the root causes of the violence.

One of the problems, the bishops said, “is the tendency to put our politicians on a pedestal, from which they dictate what is good for us, rather than listen to what we their fellow citizens are highlighting as the

most urgent needs”.

In his address, Bishop Sipuka told his brother bishops that those who protest often undermine their cause and look unreasonable because they “destroy facilities they have in order to get another facility. If they want a road, they will destroy a clinic, and if they are angr y against crime they burn a school”.

Part of that violence, he suggested is due to the absence as Church leaders, who can take the grievances of the people to those in authority.

“When people are left alone in desperate situations, they resort to emotionally desperate and destructive measures,” Bishop Sipuka said.

In their statement, the bishops echoed Bishop Sipuka’s call on Church leaders to not “retreat to our sacristies, especially at this time when our people need us to be engaging actively with our political leaders”.

The bishops acknowledged that they need to “do more than just issue occasional statements, no matter how important those might be.

“Rather, we need to be fully engaged in walking with the people, as we did in the past during the apartheid regime,” they said.

The bishops condemned all forms of corruption, “which is tainting the image of our infant democracy”, and which must be rooted out.

“We are aware of the damage done to the economy by state capture, and especially how difficult it will be to get the economy back on track,” the bishops said.

“For that reason we affirm our support for the different institutions which are key to turning things around.”

The bishops urged all South Africans “to hold hands together and work selflessly to restore basic trust and confidence needed to lift our countr y back onto the path to growth”.

The Catholic bishops renewed their commitment “to engage fully in building a better society”.

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PERSPECTIVES

Saints are not made in a day Sarah-Leah R Pimentel EDEMPTORIST Father Larry Kaufmann launched his new book, Become Love, at my parish recently. His talk is a fitting conclusion to my trilogy of articles on conversion and the journey into a deeper life of faith.

Fr Kaufmann explained that spiritual growth is a gradual process. Pope John Paul II called this the “law of gradualness”, whereby the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual growth of human beings happens slowly.

Pope Francis also speaks about accompanying people by identifying “constructive elements” in their individual situations and leading them slowly into the fullness of the Church’s teaching.

A great misperception that we Catholics have is that we must adhere to the Church’s teachings first before we can participate fully in the life and ministry of the Church. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In the book, Fr Kaufmann shows how even the characters in John’s Gospel spread the Good News in fits and starts.

The Samaritan woman, for example, throws up a barrier after barrier to push Jesus away—the fact that she is a woman, that she is not Jewish, that she has been divorced five times, that she is not currently married. Each time, Jesus gently overturns the obstacle.

Finally, she embraces the fullness of life that Jesus has to offer and runs back to her village to tell everyone about what she has discovered.

Aren’t we a little bit like this? We want a relationship with Jesus. But we are afraid.

We’re afraid that it will take us out of our comfort zone, and we find obstacles that allow us to postpone that encounter with Jesus indefinitely.

And so we deceive ourselves. I’ll find more time for prayer and spirituality when the kids move out. My job is so demanding and I’m too tired when I get home, but when I retire I’ll have time for prayer and meditation. I’m sick and in pain, I can’t

possibly concentrate on prayer right now, but when I feel better…

Or else we’re like Peter. Fr Kaufmann says that Peter takes the whole duration of John’s Gospel to accept Jesus’ calling. He loves Jesus. He has the faith to walk on water. He correctly recognises Jesus as the true Messiah.

Despite all this, he loses faith and begins to sink. In the drama of Holy Thursday, he denies that he even knew Jesus.

Only at the end, remorseful and ashamed by his lack of courage, he reconciles with Jesus and finally is ready to receive the mission to “feed my sheep.”

L

ikewise, we have these “ah-ha” moments in our spiritual lives. We see things clearly and we see the hand of God acting in our lives. We are grateful and fall on our knees in thanksgiving.

But when the next trial comes along, we forget that transformative experience and we try to do it all on our strength.

When we realise that we failed because we went on our own, we are remorseful.

Instead of running back to the arms of a

Saints stand watch over St Peter’s Square in the Vatican. In her column, Sarah-Leah Pimentel writes that we must take courage from the saints, who had to grow into holiness. (Photo: günther Simmermacher)

Why Pell should resign C ARDINAL George Pell’s conviction of sexual abuse, passed down in December and upheld this month by the Court of Appeals in Victoria, is bad for the Catholic Church.

It is another blow to the institution’s credibility, and to its ability to evangelise.

It further erodes trust in the Church. It raises more questions about its systemic failures that even a leading cardinal could be found guilty of sexual abuse.

Within the Church, the Pell case is a source of division, between those who defend the cardinal to all ends, and those who welcome the incarceration of an unloved Prince of the Church.

Cardinal Pell’s legal process is not yet fully exhausted; he still has recourse to the Australian High Court in Canberra—but given the appeal court’s decision to uphold his conviction, legal experts doubt that such an appeal would succeed.

For all intents and purposes, the reality is that Cardinal Pell is a convicted sex offender who likely will not breathe the air of freedom again until at least 2022.

Cardinal Pell’s confirmed conviction is not good for the Church. But for that we cannot blame the complainant whose testimony led to the cardinal’s conviction, nor the media, nor the police, nor the judges, nor the jury, nor the appeals judges, nor “the system”.

The responsibility resides with Cardinal Pell.

And it also resides, to a lesser but still important degree, with those who insisted that he was the victim of a conspiracy, in-

Cardinal george Pell in the Vatican in 2014. (Photo: Paul Haring/CnS) stead of keeping an open mind and giving the victim the benefit of at least some doubt, as all who allege having been abused are entitled to.

The impassioned arguments for Cardinal Pell’s innocence must now cease. His conviction has been confirmed and probably won’t be overturned. It is time now to respect the Australian judicial system. It is time to respect the jury whose finding has been confirmed by the Appeals Court.

And, for the sake of decency, it is time now to believe the victim of Cardinal Pell’s abuse.

C

ardinal Pell ought to consider now the option of voluntarily resigning from the College of Cardinals and renouncing his episcopal title.

To do so, in humility, would not be an admission of guilt—like any other convict,

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loving Father and ask for forgiveness, our shame keeps us away.

These stories give me hope. They remind me that saints aren’t made in a day.

Saints become holy. Slowly. Erratically.

In his 2018 apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad), Pope Francis urges us to live out holiness in everyday life.

He says that holiness is not reserved for canonised saints or authority figures in the Church, such as a “bishop, priest or religious.” No, he says, each one of us can live holy lives, by living and labouring with “integrity and skill in the service of your brothers and sisters [by] working for the common good and renouncing personal gain [or by] loving and caring” for our families.

We don’t start out as saints. We grow into holiness. Slowly. Erratically.

“This holiness to which the Lord calls you will grow through small gestures,” writes the Holy Father. However, Pope Francis says, that this doesn’t happen automatically. It requires some hard work on our part. Like the Samarian woman at the well, we need the courage to set aside our fear: “In all aspects of life we can continue to grow and offer something greater to God, even in those areas we find most difficult.

We need, though, to ask the Holy Spirit to liberate us and to expel the fear that makes us ban him from certain parts of our lives,” Pope Francis says in Gaudete et Exsultate.

“God asks everything of us, yet he also gives everything to us. He does not want to enter our lives to cripple or diminish them, but to bring them to fulfilment.”

Continued on page 11

Günther Simmermacher

Point of Debate

Cardinal Pell has the right to proclaim his innocence—but a favour to the Church which he has served for so many years.

There cannot be a place in the College of Cardinals for convicted sex offenders.

This is why Theodore McCarrick, the former cardinal-archbishop of Washington DC who was found guilty in a canonical process of sexual abuse, had to be stripped of his red hat (he eventually was excluded from holy orders altogether).

Should Cardinal Pell take the initiative in divesting himself of the titles which are blemished by his conviction, it would be a service to the Church, and also reflect well on him.

We may pity George Pell, or be angry at him, or despise his actions. We may see him as the victim of a court case which could have gone either way, or we may see him as the perpetrator of contemptible sexual abuse.

But just as those who defended him mustn’t engage in conspiracy theories and unyieldingly insist on his innocence, so must those who opposed him not gloat.

We all must accept the verdict of the Appeals Court for what it is: the culmination (for now) of a profoundly tragic story.

We all must turn to God now: to pray for the victim of George Pell who should never have been abused in the first place; to pray for George Pell, who will have time to interrogate his conscience; and to pray for our Church, which needs healing.

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the Southern Cross, august 28 to September 3, 2019

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Has Church gone soft on gay sex?

The following two incidents indicate that the Catholic Church no longer regards homosexual acts as opposed to homosexual inclinations as sinful: the statement by Pope Francis when asked about this issue some time ago: “Who am I to judge?”; and the establishment of LGBT societies such as that in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. Are the abovementioned indications correct?

P

OPE Francis’ famed remark, “Who am I to judge?”, was made in 2013, six years ago. Responding to journalists’ questions on the return flight from World Youth Day in Brazil, he said (in Italian): “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge them?”

He also mentioned that people should not be defined by their sexual tendencies: “Let us not forget that God loves all his creatures and we are destined to receive his infinite love.”.

Some eyebrows were raised at the time as well as a suspicion that, as you mention, he was condoning homosexual acts. Since then I think it is generally accepted that Francis’ words were chosen to emphasise that neither he himself nor the rest of us have the right to point a finger at gay persons who love God and want to do his will.

The pope did not imply that the Church no longer regards homosexual acts as sinful. Only God know who has sinned and who has not, while the rest of us must stand back. Judgment lies with God alone (Rm 12:19).

Christ told his followers, that is, his Church: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me” (Lk 9:23).

From the day of its birth the Church has carried its cross of persecutions, heresies and scandals, and at present it has the cross of an apparent widespread abandonment of its teaching that sex belongs properly within the sacrament of matrimony only.

Christians who are gay yet sincere in their faith, feel the weight of this cross. They should bear in mind our Lord’s tender words: “Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Mt 11:28).

I think the Holy Father—and the Jesuits of Braamfontein, whose pastoral care group also includes parents of LGBT people, in their turn—are demonstrating the non-judgmental love of the Church, the Body of Christ, for her own members.

Their Christian love enfolds those who find themselves marked as queer and different and who yet need to feel the acceptance and guidance of Christ, which they can experience through the empathy of others.

n Send your queries to Open Door, Box 2372, Cape Town,

8000; or e-mail: opendoor@scross.co.za; or fax (021) 465 3850. Anonymity can be preserved by arrangement, but questions must be signed, and may be edited for clarity. Only published questions will be answered.

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the Southern Cross, august 28 to September 3, 2019

COMMUNITY

the staff of Holy Family College in glenmore, Durban, celebrated the birthday of principal ursula Collings (centre). From left: ella Pretorius (bursar), Dot Mac Minn (finance), Mrs Collings, Sancia Samuel (receptionist) and Carol Johnson (reprographics)

the First Holy Communion class of 2019 of St Joseph’s parish in goodwood, Cape town, with facilitators Olga goncalves and genevieve Da Silva, and parish priest Fr Mari Joseph OCD. (Photo: tracy Lopez Photography)

the parish of the eucharistic Heart in Cambridge, east London, made up and distributed 196 care parcels to the residents of several homes, such as the Haven wellness Centre (above). Organised by the parish’s Justice & Peace coordinator Sr aloysia, parishioners donated items such as socks, biscuits, sweets, face cloths and soap.

Miranda Le Roux, Catherine Matthee and trista ndetah of edenvale parish in Johannesburg attended an event at Blessed Sacrament church in Malvern to celebrate the 38th anniversary of the first apparitions at Medjugorje.

Fr Louis Padua administered the First Holy Communion to the children of St Philip’s parish in Strandfontein, Cape town.

grade7 students Catarina Camacho and gabriella koch of Marist Brothers Linmeyer College in Johannesburg joined fellow mini-councillors to hand over wheelchairs to children at waterlands township.

the Justice & Peace Commission of the archdiocese of Durban organised a women’s and girl’s dialogue at St Vincent’s parish in kwa Mpumuza, Pietermaritzburg. Facilitated by J&P coordinator kalie Senyane, it was attended by 65 participants and parish priest Fr Lamec Ciza M.afr.

the youth of St Francis of assisi parish in Vanderbjilpark held a “Back to ‘80s” party, and Fr anthony Spencer (aka king of ubumnandi) was dressed for the occasion. (Submitted by Modjadji Motupa)

the altar servers of emmanuel church in Sebokeng, Johannesburg archdiocese with their parish priest Fr Sekabata Solomon Mphela OFM.

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Deacon Simon koenane led the community of the church of the Resurrection in Dawn Park, Boksburg, in the celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi, carrying the Blessed Sacrament in procession through the streets. In a public profession of the Catholic faith, parishioners kneeled before the real presence of Christ in the Holy Sacrament while the choir led the congregation with sacred hymns, and the altar servers incensed the Blessed Sacrament.

the Southern Cross, august 28 to September 3, 2019

LIFE

9

True stories from the streets We may pass them at traffic lights or in doorways and ignore them, but behind every homeless person, there’s a story. Here, eight of them tell theirs.

T

HIS month the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban launched its Homeless 101 project which seeks to give, in photos and in text, a human face to the homeless, in contrast to “the hooded shadowy figures that usually illustrate stories on homelessness”.

Photographer Obakeng Molepe captured the striking images of eight homeless or formerly homeless people in Durban, and copywriter Sithembiso Shoba collected their words.

“Each of the 10 000-plus homeless people in each of South Africa’s major cities has a face, a heart, a name, and a story,” said said DHC director Raymond Perrier, who also chairs the eThekwini Task Team.

“This photo essay does not ask for your pity; it asks for your attention and your understanding.”

Reproduced in this feature are edited excepts of four of the eight people’s testimony. For the full stories visit the Homeless101 website (www.denishurleycentre.org/page/ homeless101).

for work because I was there most of the time anyway for breakfast and lunch. They said they will make me a volunteer in the kitchen to serve some of my friends I stay with in the street.

Now I work in the showers. I clean them and get them ready for my friends to take a shower in a respectable manner and never worry about being chased around for practising a basic human right.

I’m glad to say I’m slowly finding myself and I now have my own place at Mayville, where I can take a bath as much as I want.

nomcebo khumalo at her home

Nomcebo Khumalo

C

RIME, violence, prostitution, death, lies, drugs and depression. To most people those words are terrifying, but for me it was normal. I saw nothing wrong with it; it’s all part of umphanto [hustle].

I was surrounded by all those things, but they felt more like home than anything else. Until one day…

I’m a 32-year old woman from Mayville. I left home in 2009 when I had a near-death experience. I used to stay with my boyfriend and we both smoked whoonga [a heroin-based drug cocktail]. In the township, when they know you are smoking whoonga you become blamed for every criminal activity that takes place.

One day we were attacked by Vusi Dube at the beachfront showers the community—they beat us up, mob justice style. We were being accused of breaking into someVusi Dube one’s house in the community.

STARTED staying in the streets While they were beating us up of Durban when I was 13. one of the neighbours saw that I My mother left the village and knew nothing. She decided to call came to Durban so that she could the police. But by that time, make a better life for herself and they’ve already beaten my her family. boyfriend to death. That’s when One day my mom and I visited my family decided that they Dalton because we had some famshould move me to Umlazi beily members who stayed there. cause I was no longer safe at home.

That is when bamushaya ngobhulelo But I knew if I went to Umlazi, I umeqo [they bewitched her]. She will start stealing because of my passed away. They also tried me addiction and they will kill me but my ancestors fought for me. there.

I remembered that I don’t really That’s when I decided to go to know who I am. Who is this man town and stay there. They emthat mother would casually combraced me with open pare me to, the man I arms. That seems good looked exactly like, the but it’s one of the things ‘Crime, man she called my fathat make the streets of ther? I decide to leave my violence, Durban toxic. step-father and go on a When I got to town I journey of discovery. prostitution, stayed at Market Street. I While on the journey, would help the ladies death, lies, who the road led me to streets sell food there for of Durban and I didn’t drugs and some extra cash. But feel out of place. that was not enough so Some family members depression…

I decided to go and stay told me the story about at Addington and hustle my father and how I was it’s all part of by the robots, because I like him in every way and the hustle’ was afraid of prostituthow he was [savagely] ing myself. killed [by a mob in early When you are in the 1990]. It was because someone susstreets, you acquire different skills pected him of being impimpi [a of getting money. My skill was to spy] for the Boer police.

I found that with the informa- lie: I would tell people that I have TB, even after I had half-finished tion I got, I felt more lost.

But one thing that my father’s my treatment; and I would say I story made me realise is that if I have kids at home I have to take carried on staying in the streets, I care of: in fact I have zero kids.

Within these ten years of being will die a meaningless death like in the streets, I’ve been in and out him.

Specially with the way things of drugs. I couldn’t even bury my were happening: being chased by own mother when she passed the security guards at the beach- away. That made me want to front while trying to take a shower. smoke even more.

But I’ve been clean for three They are public showers but the homeless are not allowed to use months now.

One day I woke up and decided them. Hearing the next day that your friends were killed because to go to Denis Hurley Centre and they were caught in the public toi- ask for help. I got sick again and lets while trying to clean them- this time I knew I had to finish the treatment. By December of that selves.

One day I decided that I will go very same year I was done with my to the Denis Hurley Centre and ask treatment and clear of TB. And

I

they helped me get through a rehab programme for the first time.

Now I’m back home with my family, happy and now my sister’s kids. They respect me. I will be going back to school soon, with the hope of eventually being a nurse.

I love helping people. If I ever go back to the streets, the devil or God might as well take my life. I don’t want to waste my life anymore.

Bongani Madida at Durban City Hall

Bongani Magagasi Madida

I

‘M from Johannesburg, Soweto. I came to Durban late 2016. One of the reasons that brought me here was my name Magagasi which means “waves” in English.

But what’s the reason why I came to end up in the streets of Durban? It all started in Johannesburg when my mother passed away and then my father was remarried. That is when our father started neglecting my siblings and me.

I decided to hustle in the street.

At age 18 I started being properly homeless in the streets of Johannesburg. That goes to show that no one wakes up and decides to be homeless. Most of the time it is because of the trauma that one goes through.

The first time I got to Durban I was attacked by the municipality.

They took us from where we were sleeping, put us on the back of a van. When that happened it took me back to the apartheid days in Soweto where I was fully involved in the struggle in school and later in the ANC Youth League.

After we were taken, we were dropped off beyond Pietermaritzburg, just because they wanted to clean the streets and they just chose the easy way out.

We were a huge group. We decided that we would find our way back to Durban and we walked for a couple of days.

After that disturbing encounter, I decided in February 2017 to write a letter to the then mayor of Durban, Zandile Gumede, and to the city manager, informing them about the injustice that was taking place on the streets of Durban.

And as expected, there was no

ing us clean the whole house. We would get a beating every day at school because we would always be late, just because of the work we had to do before we went to school. That made me very violent and tough.

One day I decided to run away.

The social workers found me, sent me to a place of safety: I was 13 years at that time.

They sent me to Cape Town to the School of Industry for Girls. I used to like it there: it felt like a safe home. We used to go to school, go to church, help in the kitchen. They would take us to the beach and the bioskop (cinema). It was fun.

When I was 17 years old I got adopted again. I lived in Retreat with the Moses family. They tracked down my family here in Durban.

I came down to Durban to see my family. I found my mother in the bush at Seaview in an old rundown brown building. She refused to come with us; she was in her 60s at that time. All this time she was sick, we didn’t know.

Later we found her at King Edward Hospital. I think she was waiting for one of us to get there. I asked her why she left us. She looked at me straight in my eyes without even saying a word. She started fretting, and she died just like that. tracy Bolt in the DHC kitchen When I was 21 years old I met Tracy Bolt the most charming man. We had a MAGINE waking up one day and baby boy. When my son was 2 finding out that your whole life years old I was diagnosed with tuis a lie; that the abusive life you berculosis. While I was in hospital were living was not normal. That’s for TB the father of my son was when I decided to run away and murdered due to gang violence.

They caught him at the wrong find my own family. place at the wrong time.

Everybody has their That shattered my story why they’re on the world so I decided to streets. All we mostly ‘You cannot leave Wentworth and want is love, to be embraced and be guided tobe a charity come to town, so I can get a job and feed my wards a certain direction of prosperity. Some of us case forever; son.

When I got to town I were not given a chance at some point was staying outdoors. to fight in this thing Some friends that I met called life. you have on the street told me I hate and love sharabout the Cathedral Cento take ing my story. I hate it in tre, before it became the sense that it brings back old wounds that I responsibility Denis Hurley Centre, when people used to be try to heal. But I also for your life’ fed by a roller door garage love it because I get to

by Mr and Mrs Govender. heal other people with I knew that this was home. my story.

That’s when I started volunteerMy story starts in the streets of Durban under the bridge in Clair- ing because there was nothing out wood. I was too young to even re- there for me in the street. I put all member. It was five of us staying my energy in this because this is there—my mother and my three the family I have now.

Now I am a mother of four and brothers. I was the youngest.

I guess people would see us a grandmother. I’m the boss lady at under the bridge and they reported the Denis Hurley Centre kitchen, it to social workers. They took us and I make a mean chicken curry.

I am Tracy Bolt, and I won’t let and sent us to a home. That’s where we were adopted by a lady my mother’s sins fall upon me. n More at www.denishurleycentre. at Wentworth.

She used to treat us badly, mak- org/page/homeless101

reply, even up to today.

That is where I decided to start a forum for homeless people with the help of the director of the Denis Hurley Centre, Raymond Perrier. Then I was elected to be part of the task team formed by the deputy mayor of Durban to tackle homelessness—I now go to meetings inside City Hall!

So now I’m a homeless person taking part as a citizen of South Africa and citizen of eThekwini. I am hoping that one day we will have a political party as homeless people and join forces with the people staying in umjondolo [shacks] to have a representative especially in parliament.

You cannot be a charity case for the rest of your life; at some point you have to take responsibility for your life.

I am a believer—as long as my God is still with me, hope is always there.

I

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the Southern Cross, august 28 to September 3, 2019

FAITH

What we can learn from Bradburne September 5 marks the 40th anniversary of the killing of John Bradburne, whose sainthood cause will be launched in Harare at the same time. FR DaVID HaROLD-BaRRy SJ tells us about his friend’s life, and what we can learn from it.

L

UKE’S Gospel reports the striking command of Jesus to his close disciples: “Put the net out into the deep!”

Peter’s immediate response is: “That’s crazy! We have been fishing all night—the best time for fishing—and caught nothing. What makes you think we will do any good now in broad daylight?” But then he has second thoughts. “Still, if you say so, we will give it a try.”

Can we see this scene as a mirror of what many of us experience? We say we are Christians and we are!

But do we feel there must be more to being a follower of Jesus than what we actually live each day?

We keep the commandments.

We are good people. We pray.

Maybe we go to church. Yet there is an ache within, which thirsts for more. We may not know what we are looking for, and perhaps we do not pay much attention to our search, but we are looking all the same.

The question is, “How are we looking?”, and it is here that John Bradburne can help us.

It is clear from the accounts of his life, given to us first by his friend Fr John Dove SJ and later by his biographer Didier Rance that John was searching from an early age.

As a boy, he liked to wander on his own and climb the tallest trees.

He rebelled against the conformity expected of school boys, and even in the army he sought his own space. His search finally brought him to a monastery where he asked to be received into the Catholic Church.

He soon discovered this was only a staging post on his journey. He yearned to go deeper, but those who accompanied him advised him to

circle round his desire for a while: Be a forester! Be a fisherman! Be a teacher!

Bradburne obediently did all these things, but they left him only more restless than before.

With a few pounds in his pocket he set out for Jerusalem. He wanted to spend his life there and “convert the Jews”. Ignatius of Loyola had done the same 400 years earlier.

John, like Ignatius, met a blank wall: “You cannot stay here.”

Four times John tried to join a religious congregation. Each time he met the same answer: “You cannot stay here.”

Would he ever find a “place to stay” where he would be at home?

He tried a loft in Perugia and a country house near London, but always there was the verdict: “You cannot stay here.”

Then he thought of Fr Dove, his friend from India, and of Africa. He came and stayed first with the Franciscans, for he already was a secular one, but after a time they said: “You cannot stay here.”

He moved to the Jesuit Silveira House in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) to be with Fr Dove and was happy there for a while—until he heard his inner voice saying: “This is not your place.”

Wherever he was, as his many letters testify, he felt at first he had found his home: “I think I have found my place. Who knows, maybe I will stay here forever.” And then, after a few years, that voice would come telling him it was time to move on.

order not to step foot there except for his duties as chaplain, which he still had from the archbishop.

The final weeks

Home in a leprosy camp The year 1969 put an end to all this restlessness. He arrived in Mutemwa. He was to stay there until his death ten years later—the longest time he stayed anywhere in all his 58 years of life.

Heather Benoy, who knew John well, drove him to Mutemwa to show him the settlement where people living with leprosy stayed.

John had been offered the job of warden and Heather’s idea was he would go and have a look and see whether he liked the offer.

But John didn’t need to think about it; he was immediately glued to the spot and decided to stay there and then. He knew instantly this was where he was meant to be.

John Bradburne at work in Mutemwa leprosy camp.

John Bradburne, whose sainthood cause will be launched in Harare on September 5, the 40th anniversary of his murder. (Photos courtesy John Bradburne Memorial Society) Fifty years later Heather recalled the moment. She told me that John not only knew that he was to stay at Mutemwa forever but that it also would eventually lead to his death.

At that moment John knew that his prayers of many years were now going to be answered and he trembled at the reality of it.

Mutemwa was not an attractive place in 1969. The people crawled rather than walked and had been told to cover their distorted features with sacks. So deprived were they of limbs or help they would eat from the dishes like animals. They could not wash and no one helped them change their bandages.

It was a bleak, grim place and yet John stood there rooted to the spot.

Heather had immense trouble getting him to go back and collect his belongings at Silveira.

It was in this place for the abandoned (Mutemwa means “you are cut off”) that John was at last happy.

He became the friend, nurse, provider and defender of the people.

He burnt their sacks, washed their wounds, provided medicine and food, and gave them back their dignity. When they were dying he nursed them and when they died he buried them. Mutemwa became a place of peace and hope.

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The prowling bulls But then the prowling “bulls of Bashan” (Psalm 22:12) were gathering, and there was the beginning of troubles.

John’s kindness to the people was out of tune with the dominant Rhodesian way of treating Africans.

John came to know each person at the leprosy settlement by name. He knew their joys and sorrows, their anxieties and fears and he responded to them.

His way stood out as an accusation, and there were those on the Rhodesian Leprosy Association (RLA) who wanted to get rid of him.

They looked for charges they could use to dismiss him. He was wasting money, spoiling the people. He was not keeping the books correctly.

This time the words “you cannot stay here” were not uttered by wellmeaning friends but by enemies.

John ignored them at first but there was little he could do to shake them off.

John was eventually dismissed and banished from the settlement.

Accompanied by the people he had come to know he climbed Chigona, the mountain overlooking their homes, and settled there in a tent.

His exile was painful to him but he knew it had been the same for Jesus who could “no longer go into a town openly but stayed out in the country” (Mark 1:45).

The new warden made life difficult for the people with leprosy and, by one of those twists that human being are so capable of, they blamed John for their plight. John was now an exile, rejected by the authorities and by his own people. We will never know what all this meant for him but he must have known that he was now in the beginning of darkness, and that the Bulls of Bashan would only get bolder.

After months on the mountain, after his tent was shredded by winds and leopard’s footprints were spotted in the vicinity, John’s friends provided a tin hut for him at its base just outside the perimeter of the settlement.

He began to visit sick people in the camp at night, ignoring the

Eventually the fighters in the war for freedom came nearer to Mutemwa and the RLA had bigger concerns to deal with than the troublesome Englishman who would not leave the vicinity.

But the arrival of the fighters meant that some local people became bolder in casting covetous eyes on the land of the people at Mutemwa. It was a fluid interregnum and no one was safe from the whims of those who wished to do harm.

John knew he was right in the thick of a confused and explosive situation. Dr Luisa Guidotti, the doctor at the nearby mission of All Souls who had been a rock of support for John, had been killed in July 1979 and John carried her coffin at the funeral in Salisbury (now Harare). John knew his own time was coming.

Many tried to dissuade him from returning to Mutemwa but he “set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). He was determined to finish what he had started. He knew his climax was approaching.

We know what happened. They came for him in the night and led him away. There was a trial and the guerrilla commander, like Pilate before him, said, “I find no case against him” (John 18:38). But they didn’t listen. On September 5, 1979 they killed him anyway.

John was silent towards the end.

As far as I know, he left no letters or poetry written in those final days though he did write a number of postcards.

I remember vividly his visit to my office at Silveira a couple of weeks before his death when he said: “I say, old chap, you wouldn’t have some stamps, by any chance?”

And he produced about a dozen postcards.

I wonder if any of those cards, posted around August 15, 1979, have found their way into his archives? I am sure they were cryptic good-bye cards.

He died in what the Church has always called “triumph”, that is, he died not just with his mission accomplished but with his persistent search fully achieved.

Bradburne shows the way It is now 40 years since these events and the witness of John’s life has not grown dim but gathered brightness with the years.

One thing that John Bradburne teaches us is that there are no short cuts. We cannot put a plaster bandage over an untreated wound. John shows us we need to go to the source of our unease.

We are disturbed and we may be tempted to find relief in distraction.

That may serve us for a while, but the unease, the angst, will return. If we keep pushing it aside we may become sick. We need to deal with it.

It may take time; it will certainly take courage.

John was so “anti” modern in a way: he never read a newspaper in his life or listened to the news. He wouldn’t wear glasses “because Moses didn’t”. Absurd, you might say. But they were teasing sparks from a heart that was solidly rooted in the truth that human nature is stamped from the beginning with the imprint of God. If we ignore that we will at best, find temporary solutions to our unease, and at worst, totally miss out on what it is to be human.

John was radically and permanently centred on his “true home which is within”. He stands out for us because of the rigour and persistence with which he pursued this search.

His life is a sure guide for searchers. n Fr David Harold-Barry SJ was a friend of John Bradburne’s and still lives in Zimbabwe. For more on Bradburne see www.johnbradburne.com

the Southern Cross, august 28 to September 3, 2019

Fr Konrad Nefzger MCCJ

C

OMBONI Father Konrad Nefzger of Witbank died on August 6 in Germany at the age of 80.

He was born on the April 1, 1939 in the small village of Unterschoenau in south-eastern Germany. In 1950 he entered the minor seminary in Ellwangen. He matriculated in 1958 and joined the Comboni Missionaries in Germany.

Fr Nefzger was ordained a priest on July 26, 1964 in the cathedral of Bamberg in Bavaria, and was assigned to work as a missionary in the diocese of Witbank.

He arrived in South Africa in January 1965, and worked in Driefontein, Witbank, and later in Maria Trost, Lydenburg.

He was elected the provincial superior of the Comboni Missionaries in 1974, and also worked in Middelburg and Bongani, Mpumalanga.

He returned to work in Maria Trost in 1990, and retired to Germany in 2018.

Fr Nefzger spent 52 of his 55 years years in South Africa. He spent three years in Germany, as director of the minor seminary in Neumarkt, Bavaria.

He is fondly remembered for his prayerfulness, his missionary zeal, his generosity to students, and his wry sense of

humour.

Fr Konrad lived the Comboni spirituality, with a frugal lifestyle, and placed himself firmly alongside the poorest and most abandoned of society.

H

is hobby was to make candles: Easter candles, anniversary candles, and all kinds of celebratory candles. He cultivated a flower garden, and was also responsible for the cemetery where religious and priests are buried at Maria Trost.

Fr Nefzger had learnt isiZulu very well and wrote a catechism in English and also in isiZulu, both of which are still in use.

He built churches, halls, and

extended existing structures, all in favour of the spread of the Gospel.

His book The History of the Comboni Missionaries in South Africa 1924-1994 vividly illustrates the struggle of the Church during the apartheid years.

Fr Nefzger was buried on August 13 in Germany. That same day a memorial service was held in Lydenburg parish, where he had served. The whole congregation turned up to bid him farewell.

It was a heart-wrenching liturgy, with tributes and testimonies to Fr Nefzger’s Christian example, priestly ministry in favour of the poor, and his personal dedication and commitment to the people whom he had served for so long.

This celebration brought out the deep love the people have for Fr Nefzger. They saw God in him. He was an exemplary missionary who lived his consecration in daily service and fidelity to God and to God’s people.

He left an example to all Comboni Missionaries of commitment and dedication to the peoples of Africa.

Fr Jude Burgers

Good ship Pope Francis A

By COuRtney gROgan

HOSPITAL ship named after Pope Francis is sailing on the Amazon to bring medical care to rural populations.

“Just as Jesus, who appeared walking on water, calmed the storm and strengthened the faith of the disciples, this boat will bring spiritual comfort and calm to the worries of needy men and women, abandoned to their fate,” Pope Francis said in a letter sent to mark the ship’s launch in Belém, Brazil.

“In addition to being a beautiful concrete gesture in view of the Synod of Bishops for Amazon [in the Vatican in October], this river hospital is above all a response to the Lord's mandate, who continues to send his disciples to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick,” the pope said, according to Vatican News.

The hospital boat is the initiative of the Fraternity of St Francis of Assisi in the Providence of God in partnership with their local diocese and the Brazilian government.

The Brazilian Franciscans were inspired to create the floating hospital when Pope Francis visited their healthcare facility during World Youth

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DeATH

LArOS—Lance andrew went to his heavenly reward on august 18, 2019 after a long illness of pain and suffering. will always be remembered and missed by all the family. On his soul dear Lord have mercy. R I P COLLiNGWOOD—ichael Joesph Peter 'Mike'.

05/09/1930-29/06/2019.It is with sadness that we announce that Michael Joseph Peter Collingwood died after a short illness bravely borne in Cape town. Born and raised in Durban, he was the eleventh and last child of Vincent Joseph Collingwood and Veronica Collingwood (née O'Connor). Brother to John, Monica, Robert, Sophie, Margaret, twins Cosmas and Damian, Vincent, austin and Veronica (all now deceased), Michael was a pupil at St Joseph's, Maris Stella Convent in Durban and St adian's Jesuit College, grahamstown where he became Head Prefect and Captain of the First 11. He was proud to be a member of the Old aidanites, was a member of the SvdP and maintained a life long devotion to Our Lady. His love of Latin and cricket were evident to all those who derived great enjoyment from listening to him quote long passages in Latin and recite from memory wisden records going back to the time of w.g. grace. a

users (married or cohabiting) must be told, to save their souls and their unborn infants. See www.epm.org/static/uploads/downloads/bcpill. pdf

VACANCY

true gentleman, he was a a gifted raconteur and fount of family and other historical stories. He is survived by his loving children Catherine, John and Vincent, daughtersin-law tara and natalie, grandchildren Maxim, Samuel, Levi, Basil, evie and thomas Collingwood and will be fondly remembered by his many nieces and nephews. a Memorial Mass will be held at 09h30 on wednesday 4 September 2019 at St Michael's Catholic Church, 23 Rouwkoop Road, Rondebosch. May His Dear Soul and the Souls of all the Faithful Departed through the Mercy of god, Rest in Peace.

PerSONAL

ABOrTiON WArNiNG: the truth will convict a silent Church. See www.valuelifeabortionisevil.co.za ABOrTiON WArNiNG: the pill can abort. all Catholic

Our bishops’ anniversaries This week we congratulate: September 6: Archbishop William Slattery retired of Pretoria on his 76th birthday.

September 6: Archbishop Dabula Mpako of Pretoria on his 60th birthday.

September 7: Bishop Jeremiah Masela of Polokwane on the 6th anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

People watch the Barco Hospital Papa Francisco, or Hospital Ship Pope Francis, on the amazon River. It will provide medical care to rural populations in South america.

Day in Rio de Janeiro in 2013.

During the visit, the pope encouraged Friar Francisco Belotti to expand his religious order’s charitable works into the Amazon region.

The boat, 32m in length, contains an operating room and analysis laboratory, and is able to provide a range of medical services, including X-rays, vaccinations, electrocardio-

grams, mammograms, and ultrasounds.

The “Barco Hospital Papa Francisco” will travel along the Amazon River to reach people who live in communities in the Amazon only accessible by river.

It is staffed by 20 medical volunteers, ten crew members, and a Franciscan boat director for each ten-day voyage.—CNA

Saints are not made in a day Continued from page 7 Pope Francis continues: “Discernment...helps us to carry out the mission to which he has called us, for the good of our brothers and sisters.”

This brings me to my last point. I often feel that as Catholics we are far too hesitant to join ministries and pastoral activities in our parishes. We feel that we’re not qualified or that this is the domain of priests and deacons, or maybe those few people who seem to do

YOUr CLASSiFieDS

everything at church.

The apostles were not qualified either. They were fishermen, tax collectors, farmers. But in their friendship with Jesus they found their true purpose.

They entered their life of ministry in fits and starts. They got it right sometimes. They got it wrong a lot of the time.

And yet, they embraced the mission Jesus left them. Their efforts, coupled with their gradual spiritual growth, transformed the world.

Our faith might be the size of a mustard seed. But we also are called to build up God’s kingdom here on earth. Each one of us comes with unique skills and a passion for something.

How can we use these talents to bring life and fruitfulness to our parishes, to make them places of outreach and renewal? n Read previous columns by Sara-Leah Pimentel at https://www.scross.co.za/cate gory/perspectives/sarah-leah-pi mentel/

11

Southern CrossWord solutions ACROSS: 3 Statuette, 8 Edam, 9 Extempore, 10 Indult, 11 Ghost, 14 Diego, 15 Eras, 16 Wharf, 18 Nail, 20 Ladle, 21 Table, 24 Septet, 25 Abdicates, 26 Rota, 27 Plaything. DOWN: 1 Reminding, 2 Candlelit, 4 Text, 5 Teeth, 6 Expose, 7 Turk, 9 Elbow, 11 Grace, 12 Tradition, 13 Essential, 17 Flees, 19 Laxity, 22 Loath, 23 Abel, 24 Seen.

Liturgical Calendar

Year C – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday September 1, 22nd Sunday of the Year Sirach 3:17-20, 28-29, Psalm 68:4-7, 10-11, Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24, Luke 14:1, 7-14 Monday September 2 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Psalm 96:1, 5, 11-13, Luke 4:16-30 Tuesday September 3, St Gregory the Great 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11, Psalm 27:1,4, 13-14, Luke 4:31-37 Wednesday September 4 Colossians 1:1-8, Psalm 52:10-11, Luke 4:38-44 Thursday September 5 Colossians 1:9-14, Psalm 98:2-6, Luke 5:1-11 Friday September 6 Colossians 1:15-20, Psalm 100, Luke 5:33-39 Saturday September 7 Colossians 1:21-23, Psalm 54:3-4, 6,8, Luke 6:1-5 Sunday September 8, 23rd Sunday of the Year Wisdom 9:13-18, Psalm 90:3-6, 12-14, 17, Philemon 910, 12-17, Luke 14:25-33

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the

23rd Sunday: September 8 Wisdom 9:13-18; Psalm 90:3-6, 12-14,17; Philemon 9-10,12-17; Luke 14:25-33 HERE is a precious gift in life, called “wisdom”. That is what God offers us, according to next Sunday’s readings. But it is not an easy or a comfortable option.

Look at the first reading, from an unknown Jewish author trying to reassure his compatriots and co-religionists in the brilliant civilisation that was the Egyptian city of Alexandria that they had a good enough tradition to rely on. So he reminds them (and us) of the distance between humanity and God: “what human being will know God’s plan or who can grasp what God is wanting?”

Then he continues on the path of wisdom: “for a perishable body weighs down the soul, and the earthly tent lies heavy on the multitasking mind”. Then he turns to God and asks: “Whoever knew your plan, unless you had given them Wisdom, and sent your Holy Spirit from the highest places? And so the paths of those on earth were straightened; and human beings were taught what pleases you.

And they were saved by Wisdom”.

There is nothing easy here; but it is something that God offers us; and our part is simply to respond to what God is doing in our lives.

The psalm reflects in a different way on the nature of wisdom, and the discomfort it can

T

S outher n C ross

God’s offer: Wisdom

Nicholas King SJ

involve—including the important reminder that our lives are short: “Human beings you return to the dust, saying, ‘Return, sons of men’.”

Then the lesson continues with a reminder of the different scale of God’s vision of things: “A thousand years in your sight are just a yesterday, for it passes, a watch in the night”.

Then he uses the word “wisdom”: “Teach us to count our days, so that we may know and see Wisdom of heart.”

There is clearly pain here in the poet’s heart: “Return, Lord! How long? Have mercy on your servants! Fill us with your steadfast love in the morning—then we shall rejoice”.

Finally he ends with the lovely prayer: “May the favour of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the works of our hands”.

There is a profound wisdom here.

You should pay careful attention to the second reading, for this is the only Sunday in the three-year cycle when we read the lovely letter to Philemon.

The wisdom that Paul is trying to teach Philemon (in whose house the church may well be meeting) is that the runaway slave called Onesimus is not Philemon’s property,

ing to follow Jesus. It is largely a matter of learning to accept the cost of discipleship.

Jesus is addressing the crowds on what it means to follow him. The language is very strong: “If someone comes to me and does not hate their father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and indeed their own life, they cannot be my disciple.”

The point here, of course, is that discipleship is something to be taken with immense seriousness; and he expresses it in a slightly different way when he goes on to speak of “carrying the cross”, referring to that appalling death which Romans inflicted on inferior people, and which Jesus himself would endure.

Then there are two metaphors for counting the cost: “building a skyscraper” (and making sure that you have the resources for it) and “a king going to war against another king” (and making sure that there are sufficient troops).

There is wisdom here, even if it is not particularly comfortable.

Don’t envy God’s grace I

mercy. They’re sincerely anxious about perhaps dispensing God’s mercy too liberally, too cheaply, too indiscriminately, in essence, too unfairly.

Their fear is not so much that God’s mercy is limited and that there’s only so much grace to go around. Not that. Their concern is more that by giving out grace so liberally they’re being unfair to those who are practising faithfully and bearing the heat of the day. Their fear is about fairness, justice, and merit.

What’s at stake here? That grace is not something we merit.

A

fter the rich young man in the Gospels turns down Jesus’ invitation to leave everything and follow him, Peter—who watched this encounter and who, unlike the rich young man, hasn’t turned down Jesus’ invitation and has given up everything to follow him—asks Jesus what those who do give up everything are going to get in return.

In response, Jesus tells him the parable of the generous land owner and the vineyard workers who all arrive at different times, wherein some work for many hours and some for virtually no time at all, and yet they all receive the same reward, leaving those who worked the full day and bore the heat of the sun bitter with a sense of unfairness.

But, the vineyard owner (God) points out that there’s no unfairness here since everyone has in fact received an overgenerous return.

What’s the deep lesson? Whenever we’re protesting that it isn’t fair that those who aren’t as faithful as we but are still receiving the full mercy and grace of

Conrad

MAGINE this: A man, entirely careless of all moral and spiritual affairs, lives his life in utter selfishness; pleasure is his only pursuit. He lives the high life, never prays, never goes to church, has numerous sexual affairs, and has no concern for anyone but himself.

After a long life of this, he’s diagnosed with a terminal illness and, on his deathbed, tearfully repents, makes a sincere confession, receives the Eucharist, and dies inside the blessing of the Church and his friends.

Now, if our reaction is, “Well, the lucky fellow! He got to live a life of selfish pleasure and still gets to go to heaven!”, then—according to Piet Fransen, a renowned theologian on grace—we haven’t yet at all understood the workings of grace.

To the degree that we still envy the amoral and wish to exclude them from God’s grace, even as we count ourselves in, we are the “Older Brother” of the Prodigal Son, standing outside the Father’s house—heaven—in envy and bitterness.

I teach in a seminary that prepares seminarians for ordination. Recently our professor of Sacramental Theology shared this: He’s been teaching a course on the sacrament of reconciliation for more than 40 years, and only in the last few years have the seminarians asked: “When do we have to refuse giving someone absolution in confession?”

What is revealed in this concern? The seminarians asking the question are, no doubt, sincere; they’re not trying to be rigid or hard.

Their anxiety is rather about grace and

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Sunday Reflections

but a brother in the Lord. And so you must imagine that as it is read out, the attention of them all is upon Philemon, to see how he is taking it as Paul calls Onesimus “my child, whom I fathered here in prison”. Paul wants Philemon to accept Onesimus back, “after a brief separation, so that you may have him forever”, and to see him as “no longer a slave, but something more than a slave, a beloved fellow-Christian”.

And in case Philemon might have any funny ideas of having Onesimus executed or branded, or having bits cut off him (as the law would allow), Paul insists that “he is especially beloved to me”.

Then our bit of the letter ends with an unmistakable threat: “If you regard me as being in communion to you, I want you to accept him as you would accept me.”

How do you think Philemon might have responded to Paul’s request? We hope that it was with wisdom; and perhaps the fact that the letter survives may suggest that he was obedient.

The wisdom of which the gospel speaks is also rather stark, with some powerful illustrations of what might make sense in endeavour-

Southern Crossword #878

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

God, then we are some distance from understanding grace and living fully inside it.

My dental hygienist knows I’m a Catholic priest and likes to ask me questions about religion and church. One day she shared this story: Her mother and father had both, as far as she knew, never attended church. They’d been benign enough about religion, but not interested themselves.

She, their daughter, had begun practising as a Methodist, mainly through the influence of friends. Then her mother died and as they talked about plans for a funeral, her father revealed that her mother had been baptised as a Catholic, though she had not practised since her school years.

He suggested they try to arrange a Catholic funeral for her. Given all those years of absence, it was with some trepidation that they approached a priest at a nearby parish to ask whether they might have a Catholic funeral for her.

To their surprise, the priest’s response was non-hesitant, warm, and welcoming: “Of course we can do this! It will be an honour! And I’ll arrange for a choir and a reception in the parish hall afterwards.”

No price was exacted for her mother’s life-long absence from the Church. She was buried with the full rites of the Church.

And her father, well, he was so touched by it all, the generosity of the church and the beauty of the liturgy, that he has since decided to become a Catholic.

One wonders what the effect would have been had the priest refused that funeral, asking how they could justify a Church funeral when, for all these years, they weren’t interested in the church.

One wonders too how many people find this story comforting rather than discomforting, given a strong ecclesial ethos today wherein many of us nurse the fear that we are handing out grace and mercy too cheaply.

But grace and mercy are never given out cheaply since love is never merited.

AcRoSS

3. Small figure of a large figure in church (9) 8. Cheese made around the Netherlands (4) 9. How to preach without preparation (9) 10. Papal permission (6) 11. The Holy Spirit of old prayer (5) 14. First Mexican saint (5) 15. Divisions of time (4) 16. Where St Peter moored the boat? (5) 18. It may go into the coffin after the body (4) 20. You’ll need it in the parish soup kitchen (5) 21. Furniture that suits the spoon (5) 24. Seven can play in it (6) 25. Basic date when pope resigns (9) 26. List in the Roman Curia (4) 27. A toy that’s unimportant?

(9) Solutions on page 11

DoWn

1. Bringing back to memory (9) 2. Kind of meal around the altar? (9) 4. Kind of book used at school (4) 5. The children’s … are set on edge (Ez 18) (5) 6. Display the Eucharist for adoration (6) 7. One from the old Constantinople (4) 9. Kind of room for you to move about freely? (5) 11. It is sanctifying when God gives it to us (5) 12. Non-scriptural source of Revelation to us (9) 13. Sees Latin is absolutely necessary (9) 17. Jumps away with jumping insects, we hear (5) 19. Showing no discipline in the holy rule (6) 22. Reluctant (5) 23. First victim of murder (4) 24. Observed in dense enclosure (4)

CHURCH CHUCKLE

A

SKED by the priest why he no longer comes to Mass, the parishioner pompously pronounces: “I’m sorry, but I think there are too many hypocrites in the church!”

“Yes, indeed there are,” says the priest gently as he looks the parishioner in the eyes. “But then, one more won’t make a difference.”

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