190911

The

S outher n C ross

September 11 to September 17, 2019

First miracle of Knock shrine confirmed

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Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 5152

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Faith journey: I know Mary is always with me

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Journey from soccer star to priesthood

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SA doctors refuse to do abortions

BY ERIN CARELSE

Ursula Collings, principal of Holy Family College in Glenmore, Durban, was photographed at her school with male dancers from Shall We Dance Durban studios and the Flatfoot Dance Company who were part of a global response for boy and men dancers called #BoysDanceToo. The campaign is a response “against bullying, mocking and teasing boys who wish to pursue their passion and dance”. (Photo: Val Adamson Photography/Publicity Matters)

Tales of Irish missionaries T STAFF REPORTER

HE embassy of Ireland in Pretoria is putting together an oral history project about the work of Irish missionaries in South Africa, and is calling for contributions.

The project aims to raise awareness of and celebrate the contribution of Irish missionaries since they first arrived in South Africa over 150 years ago.

“Since then, they have been a constant and influential presence in the country, working in particular to provide healthcare and education in disadvantaged communities. Many Irish missionaries also became vocal opponents of apartheid and joined the anti-apartheid movement,” said Nthabeleng Mzizi, public diplomacy and information officer of the embassy of Ireland.

The project will document the history of Irish missionaries in South Africa, focussing in particular on their work under apartheid and in the post-apartheid era.

The oral history will be presented as a short film and in an exhibition aimed at South African and Irish audiences.

“The work of the Irish missionaries extended far beyond the remit of religion and

education, and Irish missionaries were active participants in the social, economic and political development of South Africa,” Ms Mzizi said.

“For many South Africans, Irish missionaries have informed the image they have of Ireland, and their good work has helped to build the bilateral relationship between Ireland and South Africa, which continues to grow today.”

Interest in the missionaries to South Africa is also high in Ireland. This month, the Irish Catholic newspaper featured Pretoria-based Franciscan Father Hyacinth Ennis in a feature article.

The embassy of Ireland is inviting Irish missionaries living and working in South Africa to participate in the oral history project.

“Contributions to the project can be through storytelling or sharing of photos, letters, written accounts or other documents related to Irish missionary work in South Africa,” Ms Mzizi said.

Those interested in contributing to the project, or who know of an Irish missionary whose story should be documented, may contact Nthabeleng Mzizi at nthabeleng.mzizi@dfa.ie or 012 452-1000.

D

ESPITE efforts by pro-choice advocates to expand the number of abortion clinics in South Africa, doctors in the country are largely unwilling to perform the procedure.

One such case is that of Dr Jacques de Vos who has been charged by the Health Professions Council of South Africa for informing a patient that abortion constitutes the killing of an unborn human being.

He appeared before a six-member panel disciplinary inquiry on August 27-28 after waiting more than two years since being barred from practising as a doctor.

Dr De Vos, who is a member of Doctors For Life International, was a medical intern at 2 Military Hospital when he was suspended from the gynaecology rotation and refused to be signed off.

He has been prevented from commencing his community service year, effectively barring him from practising medicine in South Africa. His case has been postponed to October 3.

In South Africa, abortion has been legal since the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act was enacted in 1997. It allows for abortion on request up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy, and with certain conditions before the 20th week.

While the law permits abortions, medical professionals who will perform them are scarce, according to the manager of an abortion clinic.

Kgaladi Mphahlele, manager of Doctors Without Borders’ Choice of Termination of Pregnancy in Rustenburg, said it is hard to find clinics willing to perform abortions or doctors willing to give referrals, according to Health-E News.

The Guttmacher-Lancet Commission in Johannesburg issued a report last year finding that out of the 8 000 medical clinics in South Africa, only about 7% performed abortions,

Health-E News reported.

Judiac Ranape, a nurse who trains doctors for abortions, argued that conscientious objection is a problem.

“You’ll find an operations manager who says, ‘We won’t perform it [an abortion] because it’s against my religious beliefs’,” Ms Ranape said. She called for restrictions on conscientious objection, which the Catholic Church strongly opposes.

Church leaders have called for efforts to provide women facing difficult pregnancies with alternatives to abortion.

“You can’t tell a woman not to have an abortion and you don’t provide any assistance,” said Fr Massimo Biancalani of Mater Homes, emphasising that the Catholic Church is fundamentally opposed to abortion.

To respond to this need, the Durban priest cofounded the The Right to Live Campaign, with the Mater Homes for women in pregnancy crisis, where they are offered a place to have their babies in safety with trained and dedicated caregivers in attendance.

“We offer women shelter and give those wanting to have their baby an opportunity to do so,” Fr Biancalani said.

“A lot of women are pressurised by their families, husbands, or boyfriends, et cetera to have an abortion, and most of these women are isolated, fearful and scared—and they can’t make an informed decision. We give them an opportunity to do so,” he said.

Fr Biancalani explained that the Mater Homes are an environment of prayer and the ethos is always Catholic, but any woman in a difficult pregnancy situation is accepted.

“Over many years, The Right to Live Campaign with its Mater Homes has in various ways promoted the sacred value and dignity of every human life from conception to natural death. Woman need to know that there is a place that they can go to, “ said Fr Biancalani.

Continued on page 3

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

www.fowlertours.co.za/passion

2

The Southern Cross, September 11 to September 17, 2019

LOCAL

Seminary profs invited to discuss Laudato Si’ STAFF REPORTER

P

OPE Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ will be inspected in light of the human right to water, Cyclone Idai which caused great destruction in Mozambique, and feminism at a conference in Johannesburg in late September.

The colloquium on Laudato Si’ will be hosted by the pastoral department of the Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA), an association of the region’s bishops’ conferences, from September 30 to October 3.

Invited to the colloquium are all

rectors and professors of Catholic Social Teaching in the 11 theological seminaries in the IMBISA zone.

Among those expected to be present are Bishops Joseph Sephamola of Qacha’s Nek, Lesotho, and Ernesto Maguengue, auxiliary in Nampula, Mozambique.

“The colloquium is a direct response to the 2016 plenary assembly of IMBISA in Maseru, Lesotho, which invited the whole region to study [Laudato Si’] in such a way that it becomes more known and lived in every aspect of Church life,” said Fr Dumisani Vilakati of

IMBISA’s pastoral department.

At that assembly, the bishops spelt out the need for “a new and universal solidarity”. The bishops also said that “everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse of God’s creation”.

Papers to be presented at the Johannesburg colloquium include a reflection on Laudato Si’ and Cyclone Idai, the human right to water and our responsibility to see that this right is promoted, a feminist reading of the encyclical with a paper titled “Wangari Maathai re-

sponds to Laudato Si’”, and Laudato Si’ in the context of the Extraordinary Missionary Month in October.

In the past two years IMBISA has hosted successful training workshops on Laudato Si’ for the secretaries general of the bishops’ conferences in the IMBISA zone, as well as workshops for young people, Fr Vilakati said.

“The aim now is to move this further in a way that brings together those concerned with seminary formation, so that this becomes a present and lived reality in the formation of future priests,” he said.

Fr Vilakati said it is expected that the contributions and acts of the colloquium will eventually be published and shared widely.

“This should provide assistance to future priests who will be encouraged to always reflect theologically on their concrete pastoral circumstances and thus assist the Church’s judgments to mature as she carries out her evangelising works,” he said.

IMBISA comprises nine countries: South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Zimbabwe.

Franciscan to launch his new book

A

FTER some delay in publication, a Franciscan priest’s new book will finally be launched on September 21.

Fr Patrick Noonan OFM will launch his latest book, Township God, on Heritage Day to stir awareness of the Vaal region’s own history, of which the priest has been part.

Township God is a series of short stories that describe Fr Noonan’s life as a priest during a period when 23 church ministers were arrested for anti-apartheid activities.

“The reason for writing books about the Vaal is that this area has an amazing, exciting history that changed South Africa,” said the Boksburg-based priest. “Writing these stories [is] my way of processing what happened to me too.”

Fr Noonan is the author of several books, including the bestseller

They’re Burning The Churches.

In his new book, he reveals for the first time secret dealings between right-wing South Africans, the British and certain Irish groups in the 1980s, when the Vaal townships were burning.

Living in these townships for 40 years, which included his arrest and trial during the uprisings of the hot era, Fr Noonan describes the work of the Vaal Minister Solidarity Group, Dimpimpi, the voices of ordinary people, rape rage, God and much more.

Township God also takes the reader to Palestine, Lesotho and Ireland.

The book, from Write-On Publishing (www.writeonpublishing.co.za) will be launched on Saturday, September 21, at 13:00 at African Flavour bookshop in Vaal Walk Shopping Centre in Vanderbijlpark.

Souther n Cros s Pilgrimage

MEDJUGORJE • ROME ASSISI • LORETO

18-27 May 2020 With Archbishop Stephen Brislin

Pray in Medjugorje and visit Rome, with papal audience, Assisi, the town of St Francis, Loreto with Mary’s House. Plus a tour of historic Split in Croatia.

ThRee counTRieS in one TouR!

Caritas SA held a conference in Benoni, Gauteng, with local and international leaders of the organisation to focus on the way forward in tough financial times.

Caritas SA maps out its future plans

BY SHEILA PIRES

I

N a relatively short time, the social development arm of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Caritas SA, has achieved in the areas of agriculture, palliative care for HIV/Aids and tuberculosis patients, feeding the hungry through feeding schemes, and helping children access education.

However, one of the main challenges is funding. Operating in a frail economy with high levels of unemployment, Caritas SA is struggling to fund its day-to-day duties such as transport and workers’ remuneration.

Following a three-day conference of Caritas representatives and coordinators at the Lumko Institute in Benoni, Gauteng, six strategic orientations are now being implemented: • Building and structuring Caritas SA as the national Caritas.

• Enhancing resource mobilisation.

• Building effective communication and advocacy mechanisms.

• Networking to better coordinate all social action.

• Promoting integral human development.

• Saving peoples’ lives and assets through effective disaster response and risk management.

New bishop to sample local potjiekos skills STAFF REPORTER

C For more information or to book contact Gail at

info@fowlertours.co.za or phone 076 352-3809

www.fowlertours/medju

The three-day conference saw the participation of Caritas SA president Cardinal Wilfrid Napier; Aloysius John, secretary-general of Caritas Internationalis, the Rome-based umbrella body of 165 national Catholic relief and development agencies across the world; and Moira Monacelli, head of Caritas Internationalis’ institutional development and capacity strengthening department.

Cardinal Napier presented the constitution for Caritas SA, which was approved by the SACBC at its August plenary session.

He highlighted the regional Caritas KwaZulu-Natal, which is unique to South Africa, whose purpose is to be a vital link coordinating all Caritas projects in the province’s various dioceses.

The cardinal also spoke of the Caritas Emergency Relief Programme response to Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Mr John and Ms Monacelli of Caritas Internationalis encouraged Caritas SA to define its identity, organisation and how it will work with society in the SACBC region.

Fr Peter-John Pearson of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office gave a presentation on how Caritas SA can liaise with the government.

APE Town’s recently ordained auxiliary bishop will have the opportunity to test his new diocese’s potkjiekos-cooking skills on Heritage Day. Bishop Sylvester David has confirmed his attendance at the Two Saints Soccer and Potjiekos Tournament hosted by St John’s parish in Fish Hoek on September 24.

The event will also have an ecumenical flavour as Anglican Father Andrew Holmes and members of his neighbouring parish will join in the fun.

Fr Holmes and his community also took part in the St John’s Palm

Sunday procession this year.

The 5-a-Side tournament includes soccer teams from various parishes in the archdiocese of Cape Town. Players of all ages and genders are welcome.

The Two Saints Soccer and Potjiekos Tournament will be held at Bay Primary School, Fish Hoek.

Matches will start at 10:00 and continue until early afternoon. Fires are lit from 8:30 with judging around 12:30. n Parishes that would like to take part in the football tournament may contact Paul Kilfoil at paulkilfoil@ gmail.com, Peter Imrie at peter.imrie @gmail.com, or Magda Kus at southafrican2@iafrica.com

The Southern Cross, September 11 to September 17, 2019

LOCAL

3

Churches condemn Gauteng street violence

BY ERIN CARELSE

T

HE violent acts, and burning and looting of business premises, mostly owned by migrants, in city centres and townships in Gauteng, have left the country in shock.

“The ongoing chaos has violated basic human rights and makes a mockery of the law enshrined in our Constitution,” said the Jesuit Institute of South Africa in a statement, signed by director Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, which condemned the violence, thuggery and looting.

The institute urgently appealed to law enforcement agencies, often working in difficult situations, to act tirelessly to maintain law and order, saying those responsible for criminal acts must be held responsible.

Some leaders have contributed to the violence by their irresponsible, populist remarks for political expediency, the statement said.

“Words have power...and xenophobic rhetoric leads to xenophobic behaviour,” the statement said.

It noted that Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg had

Mobs who attacked foreigners in city centres and townships in Gauteng have been condemned by church bodies. (Photo: spotlight.africa) warned “attacks on migrants cannot just be reduced to hooliganism”.

Archbishop Tlhagale had warned: “When local communities go on a service-delivery protest, they take out their anger on foreign nationals. They harass them, attack them, destroy and loot their shops.”

The Jesuit Institute said that beneath much of the frustration and anger is despair at the lack of service delivery, economic empowerment

and security of South Africa’s own people. Politicians, the institute said, must be held accountable for this.

“Statements by leaders condemning the violence…are not good enough anymore. Leaders who have made irresponsible remarks must publicly apologise to everyone living in South Africa. To those leaders we say, ‘Have the courage to take responsibility for your own careless words and hold yourselves account-

able,’” the institute said.

Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, general-secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) in a statement appealed to all communities to desist from violence.

“There should be no room for criminal acts of violence against people and properties. Such acts must be condemned everywhere, without equivocation,” the statement said.

The SACC is setting up a task team of religious leaders to find solutions, and will engage key role players and organisations such as South African truck drivers, national taxi association Santaco, Sisonke People’s Forum, organisations of foreign nationals and foreign traders, law enforcement authorities, and various relevant government departments.

Recognising that South Africans and non-South Africans worship together, the SACC is also calling on churches in all communities to offer a space to listen to perceptions of the problems, and creative solutions.

Bishop Mpumlwana acknowledged that some pertinent truths must be taken into account.

Catholics offer abortion alternatives Continued from page 1 Another organisation which offers alternatives to abortion is Birthright.

Originally founded in Canada, Birthright South Africa has chapters in Durban (founded in 1977) and in Johannesburg (1978) It is an independent, non-sectarian movement staffed by trained volunteers.

National director Isla Bolton said that Birthright offers a listening presence to anyone who is pregnant and distressed, or those concerned about someone who is pregnant.

“We’re there to try to be there for anyone who has just discovered she is pregnant and doesn’t know where to turn to especially with everybody saying, ‘Get rid of it,’” she said.

We often get messages from young girls or woman wanting an abortion and we try to be there as an ear. We do not criticise or judge them—we are there as a friend,” Ms

Bolton said.

In Johannesburg, Birthright works closely with Sr Justine Manyonga from Divine Mercy Home which offers shelter, as well as with Mother Teresa Home in Yeoville.

Birthright also offers women free and confidential counselling, information on shelters, schooling, antenatal care and adoption, basic legal and medical information, and a referral for professional counselling should it be necessary.

If a woman decides to keep her baby, Birthright will provide her with donated maternity and baby clothes.

Recently Birthright also introduced food parcels, as sometimes women come in and are hungry.

They are also given R50 towards taxi fare to get to the Birthright offices.

“We care about the women and their babies, and we want them to know that they don’t have to face

this crisis alone,” Ms Bolton said.

“Abortion is usually the first and often the only option considered, and even encouraged by society, friends, and family. At Birthright, in a loving and caring environment, we talk about other more constructive ways to address the challenge of being unexpectedly and unhappily pregnant,” Ms Bolton said.

Catholic Mater Homes, a pro-life group in the archdiocese of Cape Town, also works to provide shelter for women during a crisis pregnancy as an alternative to abortion.

“When we talk about the nameless, faceless and voiceless victims of abortion, we have to include the mothers, who so often find themselves in helpless circumstances, with little other alternative but to make the difficult choice to end the life of their unborn child,” the Cape pro-life group notes on its Facebook page.

Grade 7 learner Mbali Nqiwa at Holy Family College in Glenmore, Durban, seen wearing one of her own designs, has her heart set on becoming a fashion designer. Mbali’s gran taught her how to sew and she started sewing clothes for her dolls in childhood. “In Grade 2 she decided to make dresses for two of her teachers, one a wedding dress that we unfortunately ran out of time to complete, and the other a mother-ofthe-bride dress, a red long-sleeved dress,” said Mbali’s Mom, adding, “Her Dad must be smiling down on her every day.”

“Poverty and unemployment for black South Africans is a stark reality, and can result in some of the most inhuman acts. Poverty and unemployment should be no excuse for criminal acts. We need solution-driven engagements,” he said.

The bishop noted that the same poverty gnaws at citizens of neighbouring countries, whose people have for generations been contract workers building the now-troubled South African economy.

A large number of foreign nationals are in this country legally: as students, traders or business people, refugees from political persecution, expatriate employees of South African and global companies, and part of the African Union and the United Nations, the SACC noted.

“To promote attacks and blockade the movement of all these people because they are not South African is to shoot ourselves and our international relations in the foot,” the SACC warned, adding that it may lead to retaliation against the South African economy, bringing even greater stress on the capacity to sustain jobs.

4

The Southern Cross, September 11 to September 17, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

Study finds no ‘gay gene’ but notes genetic factors

BY ED CONDON

A

FTER a major scientific study found there is not a singular genetic marker for homosexuality, a Catholic theologian explained that the findings are fully in accord with Catholic teaching.

The study was published in Science. It examined data from several large genetic databanks in multiple countries, and surveyed nearly half a million people about their sexual partners and preferences. Previous studies on the matter had examined sample groups of only hundreds of people.

“From a genetic standpoint, there is no single [genetic distinction] from opposite-sex to same-sex sexual behaviours,” said Andrea Ganna, a geneticist at Finland’s Institute of Molecular Medicine, and the study’s lead author.

Speaking to Scientific American, Eric Vilain, a geneticist at Children’s National Health System in Washington, DC, called the study’s result “the end of the ‘gay gene’ theory”.

In recent decades, many of those involved in the LGBT movement have advanced the argument that sexual orientation is genetically determined, and that people who experienced same-sex attraction are born with a fixed orientation.

Fr James Martin SJ, author of Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community

Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity, said that “most reputable psychologists, psychiatrists, biologists, social scientists say that people are simply born this way”.

In a commentary published along with the study, Oxford University geneticist Melinda Mills noted an “inclination to reduce sexuality to genetic determinism” in support of sociological or ideological positions.

“Attributing same-sex orientation to genetics could enhance civil rights or reduce stigma,” she wrote.

“Conversely, there are fears it provides a tool for intervention or ‘cure’.”

Still, Ms Mills said the results of the study show that the use of genetics to predict same-sex attraction, or to change it through some kind of gene editing, is “wholly and unreservedly impossible”.

Fr Martin said that “the study shows that a variety of factors, including genetic factors, influence human sexuality”.

“For me, the most helpful quote came from a geneticist who was one of the lead researchers, who talked about how ‘natural’ homosexuality is,” Fr Martin said, quoting Dr Benjamin Neale of MIT. Dr Neale told the New York Times that same-sex behaviour is “written into our genes and it’s part of our environment...this is part of our

species and it’s part of who we are”.

“That seems to sum up the results of the study accurately,” said Fr Martin.

The research showed five distinct genetic data points which appear common among individuals who reported at least one same-sex encounter. Two of these markers appear linked to hormones and smell, factors in sexual attraction.

But the five markers together explained less than 1% of differences in sexual activity among the population, the results found.

“Although they did find particular genetic loci associated with same-sex behaviour,” Ms Mills said, “when they combine the effects of these loci together into one comprehensive score, the effects are so small, under 1%, that this genetic score cannot in any way be used to predict same-sex sexual behaviour of an individual.”

Noting that the study results highlight considerable differences by generation and the influence of cultural norms on sexual behaviour, Ms Mills concluded that future research was best focused on “how genetic predispositions are altered by environmental factors”.

“Once again it’s also important that we listen to the lived experience of LGBT people, as we minister to them in the Church,” Fr Martin said.—CNA

Asia Bibi: People must help Pakistanis falsely accused of blasphemy

BY SIMON CALDWELL

T

HE “whole world” should put pressure on Pakistan to either scrap or reform its controversial blasphemy laws, said Asia Bibi, the Catholic mother freed after eight years on death row.

In her first newspaper interview since her release in May, Ms Bibi said she believed innocent people were in jail in Pakistan after being falsely accused of blasphemy.

“I pray to God that everyone falsely implicated in blasphemy cases should be released, that they get freedom and God helps them,” she told the Sunday Telegraph, a London-based weekly newspaper.

“My whole life suffered, my children suffered, and this had a huge impact on my life,” she continued.

Ms Bibi said many people are accused of blasphemy “without any proper investigation, without any

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proper proof”.

“This blasphemy law should be reviewed, and there should be proper investigation mechanisms while applying this law,” she said.

“We should not consider anyone sinful for this act without any proof.”

According to a report on international religious freedom, nearly 80 people—Muslims and Christians—

English bishop encourages eco-friendly practices

BY SIMON CALDWELL

A

N English bishop is creating a green oasis in the grounds of his residence in the hope of inspiring visitors to heed the call of Pope Francis to “care for our common home”.

Bishop John Arnold of Salford has opened the Laudato Si’ Centre at Wardley Hall, Manchester, to offer a practical lead on the teachings of Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on care for the environment.

The bishop is overseeing the transformation of vacant buildings, a courtyard, gardens and woodland into a place where people can learn how they might be able to help birds, insects and plant species flourish.

His improvements have so far included the installation of two beehives, each with a colony of 10 000 honey bees, as well as building “bug hotels” to provide environments for other species of insects to thrive.

With the help of CAFOD, the development agency of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, he also has launched a project to build thousands of boxes for use either as nesting sites for birds or as roosts for migrant bats in summer.

The award-winning boxes were designed by Steve Burrowes, a CAFOD employee working at the Laudato Si’ Centre, and have already been installed at such places as Buckingham Palace, the residence of Queen Elizabeth II; 10 Downing Street and Windsor Castle.

At the Laudato Si’ Centre, an orchard, fruit and vegetable gardens

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Asia Bibi freed after 8 years in jail, now pleads for others imprisoned by blasphemy laws in Pakistan.

are in jail in Pakistan for allegedly violating the country’s blasphemy law.

At least 28 of them have been sentenced to death, although no executions have been carried out.

Human rights groups argue that false blasphemy accusations are often made for sectarian purposes, financial gain and revenge.

Ms Bibi, a mother of five, had been sentenced to hang for allegedly insulting Mohammad, the founder of Islam, in June 2009 following a dispute with Muslim co-workers who, she maintains, objected to her sharing their water supply because she was a Christian. She has always denied the allegation.

Asia Bibi also felt deep anguish, she said, that she had to leave Pakistan.

Bibi said: “Pakistan is my country, Pakistan is my homeland, I love my country, I love my soil.”—CNS

Bishop John Arnold of Salford, England, with beehives at the Laudato Si’ Centre in Manchester. (Photo: Simon Caldwell/CNS)

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have been planted, along with a medicinal herb garden. Woodland trails, teaching areas for children and space for a campsite are under construction.

The project aims to take children and adults to “the heart of Laudato Si' in ways that will help them undertake an ecological conversion of prayer and action in their everyday lives”, according to diocesan literature. It will introduce them to the possibilities of living a sustainable and ecofriendly lifestyle in the hope that it will inspire people to do the same in their own lives.

Bishop Arnold said he wanted to show leadership because, despite the global interest in Laudato Si', he was aware that many Catholics still had “a long way to go” in responding in a practical way to the demands of the document.

“To read a text is one thing, but to actually respond to it and take the necessary steps that Laudato Si’ requires is quite another matter,”he said.

Bishop Arnold has advised Catholics in a pastoral letter to “shop more carefully, particularly choosing local produce, so saving the expensive transportation costs and use of fuel”; to walk or take public transport instead of using a car and to share car rides; to “turn lights off in unused rooms, hang washing out to dry rather than using energy-expensive drying machines”; and “reduce the waste we make and recycle more”.

He said that Catholics also should turn down the heating in their homes and instead “wear a pullover in the house” when it was cold.—CNS

Italian cardinal dies

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

C

ARDINAL Achille Silvestrini, former prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches and a longtime Vatican diplomat, died at the age of 95 on August 29.

Born in the northern Italian city of Brisighella, the future cardinal was ordained a priest in 1946 and became a member of the Vatican diplomatic corps. In 1979, he was named by Pope John Paul II as secretary of the former Council for the Public Affairs of the Church, a position equivalent to foreign minister.

He was created a cardinal in 1988 and named prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s supreme court, where he served until 1991, when he was appointed prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches.

In May 1993, he led a Vatican delegation to meet with former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to urge him to make signs of goodwill and fulfill UN resolutions in order to ease economic restrictions imposed upon Iraq following the Gulf War. Cardinal Silvestrini served as prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches until 2000.— CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, September 11 to September 17, 2019

5

1989 miraculous cure at Knock shrine confirmed

BY SARAH MAC DONALD

T

HE Catholic Church in Ireland has confirmed that a woman who was seriously ill with multiple sclerosis experienced a complete healing of all her symptoms at Knock shrine in County Mayo in September 1989.

The cure of Marion Carroll 30 years ago is the first officially recognised healing associated with Ireland’s national Marian shrine since an apparition witnessed by 15 people occurred there in August 1879.

Bishop Francis Duffy of Ardagh announced to a packed basilica that the Church had officially recognised the 68-year-old’s healing.

Ms Carroll, her husband Jimmy, their two children and five grandchildren were in the congregation.

Speaking from her home in Athlone, Ms Carroll recalled that on the day she was healed, she had been taken into the basilica on a stretcher because she was “completely paralysed”.

“I was doubly incontinent, I was blind in one eye and had very little sight in the other eye. I couldn’t eat right, I couldn’t talk right, and I had epilepsy,” she said.

At the blessing of the sick, Bishop Colm O’Reilly of Ardagh blessed her with the monstrance as she lay on her stretcher.

“When he blessed me, I got this beautiful feeling—it was a magnificent feeling—and then the whispering breeze telling me that if the

stretcher was opened that I could get up and walk.”

After Mass, the young mother was taken on her stretcher to St John’s Rest and Care Centre in Knock. The nurses and doctors were surprised by her request that her stretcher be opened. The nurse told her afterwards that she only agreed to do it to “pacify” her.

But as soon as the stretcher was opened, Ms Carroll swung her legs to the ground.

“I stood up straight and didn’t even feel stiff” despite years of paralysis. Her voice had returned perfectly, as had the use of her arms.

A letter from a consultant gastroenterologist to the medical bureau in Knock stated “regardless of whether her condition is organic or psychological, the dramatic improvement from the time of her visit to Knock is unexplained”. The letter adds: “My feeling is that her improvement is very unlikely to be explained by conventional medical wisdom.”

Ms Carroll, whose daughter has also been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, now dedicates time to helping the sick in Knock as well as talking about her cure at home and overseas. Last year she told Southern Cross pilgrims at Knock of her miraculous cure.

“My healing in Knock does not belong to me. This is a special gift to let people know that Jesus and Mary are there,” she said.—CNS

Marion Carroll, whose 1989 cure at the Marian shrine of Knock in Ireland has been confirmed as miraculous, tells her story to Southern Cross pilgrims at Knock in August 2018. Seen here listening are Bishop Victor Phalana, the late Fr Jonathan Shand, Tshegofatso Kenosi and Daisy Kotsane. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher)

New cardinals: (from left) Archbishop Cristobal Lopez Romero of Morocco, Archbishop Cristobal Lopez Romero of Morocco, Archbishop Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Congo, Archbishop Juan Garcia Rodriguez of Cuba, Archbishop Matteo Zuppi of Italy, Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald of England, and Fr Michael Czerny SJ of Canada,

New cardinals: Dialogue, the poor are priorities A

BY CINDY WOODEN

FTER the consistory to create 13 new cardinals in early October, Pope Francis will have chosen more than half of the men who will enter the Sistine Chapel to elect his successor.

And despite what critics of Pope Francis filled social media with about him setting up the college to elect a successor just like him, it should be remembered that thenArchbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001. And he was elected pope in 2013 in a conclave where 42% of the cardinal electors were created cardinals by John Paul II and the remaining 58% of the voters were named by Pope Benedict.

Personal opinions about the needs of the Church at any given moment and about who would be the best person to lead obviously are at play in a conclave. But the cardinals also invoke the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and make a very solemn oath in casting their ballots: “I call as my witness Christ the Lord, who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who before God I think should be elected.”

Ten of the prelates Pope Francis has chosen this month are under the age of 80 and, therefore, would be eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a pope.

A cardinal who has turned 80 before the papacy is vacant participates in pre-conclave meetings to discuss the needs of the Church but does not process into the Sistine Chapel and does not cast ballots for a new pope.

Barring any deaths or resignations, once the new cardinals receive their red hats in early October, the College of Cardinals will have 128 members eligible to vote in a conclave. Within ten days

Killing of ‘peace’ priest condemned

BY PETER AJAYI DADA

B

ISHOP Charles Hammawa of Jalingo expressed shock at the killing of a priest who had been working for peace in eastern Nigeria.

Fr David Tanko, a parish priest in Taraba state, was ambushed and killed while travelling to a meeting to help resolve local ethnic conflicts. Police are investigating the incident.

Fr Tanko was the second priest murdered in the space of a

few weeks.

Fr Paul Offu of southern N i g e r i a ’s diocese of Enugu was killed by suspected hoodlums.

Bishop Hammawa said his diocese was in mourning, but Church officials were not assigning blame. Police are investigating the case.

“We have been preaching peace and making efforts to bring the parties that were enmeshed in crisis in the area together for a roundtable discussion,” he said. “For a priest who has been preaching peace to be killed in this most gruesome manner is pathetic, to say the least; a priest belongs to all.

“We pray that the perpetrators will be brought to justice,” he said, noting that reprisals would “only worsen the situation”.—CNA

Pope: Euthanasia rejects hope

E

UTHANASIA is a way of treating the human person as an object; while it may appear to give freedom, it is really a rejection of hope, Pope Francis told an oncology association.

“The practice of euthanasia, which has already been legalised in several countries, only apparently aims to encourage personal freedom,” he said.

“In reality,” he continued, “it is based on a utilitarian view of

the person, who becomes useless or can be equated to a cost, if from the medical point of view, he has no hope of improvement or can no longer avoid pain.”

“If one chooses death, the problems are solved in a sense; but how much bitterness behind this reasoning, and what rejection of hope involves the choice of giving up everything and breaking all ties!” he declared.

Pope Francis stated that medical technology is not being used

for its right purpose—the service of the human person—when it “reduces him to a thing”, or makes distinctions between who is not deserving of treatment because of supposedly being “a burden” or “a waste”.

The contrary approach is a commitment to accompany a patient and his loved ones at all stages, trying to alleviate suffering through palliative care, or the family environment of a hospice, he argued. —CNA

of the consistory, four cardinals will celebrate their 80th birthdays, leaving 124 electors.

Of those 124, Pope Francis will have made 66 of them cardinals, which is 53% of the electors. The other electors will include 16 cardinals created by John Paul II and 42 made cardinals by Benedict XVI. While a majority in the next conclave will have Pope Francis to thank for their red hats and new responsibilities, to be elected pope a candidate must receive twothirds of the votes.

A

nnouncing the new cardinals, Pope Francis said they illustrate “the missionary vocation of the Church that continues to proclaim the merciful love of God to all men and women of the earth”.

A commitment to the poor, to caring for migrants and refugees and to engaging in dialogue with all people are characteristics many in the group of 13 share.

The pope named three new members from Africa: Archbishop Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa, Congo, 59, Archbishop Cristobal Lopez Romero of Rabat, Morocco, 67, and Retired Bishop Eugenio dal Corso of Benguela, Angola, 80.

One of the new cardinal electors will be Guatemalan Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini Imeri of Huehuetenango, a human rights defender whose support for environmental activists has earned him death threats.

The surprising curia pick was Jesuit Father Michael Czerny, one of two undersecretaries for migrants and refugees in the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Cardinal-designate Czerny, who was born in 1949 in what was Czechoslovakia and who migrated

with his family to Canada when he was two, worked in a variety of social justice ministries in Canada, Central America and Africa before coming to the Vatican.

According to canon law, he will need to be ordained a bishop before receiving his red hat on October 5, although he could request a dispensation.

Pope Francis’ choices continue to pay little attention to the large archdioceses traditionally led by cardinals, such as Milan and Venice. But he will give a red hat to Archbishop Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, Italy, where all but one of the archbishops in the last 400 years had been a cardinal.

In selecting cardinals, Pope Francis has made it a point to increase the geographical profile of the College of Cardinals. The conclave that elected him included participants from 48 nations; the 128 electors in the expanded college will include prelates from 68 countries.

One of the over-80 cardinalsdesignate is 82-year-old Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, a Missionary of Africa born in England, who had served as president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and was then controversially appointed Vatican nuncio to Egypt, a move seen by some as a demotion by Pope Benedict XVI. Also among the over-80 cardinals is Lithuanian Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius, who had been imprisoned from 1983-88 for “antiSoviet propaganda”.

The other new cardinals-designate are Archbishops Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo of Jakarta, Indonesia, 69; Juan Garcia Rodriguez of Havana, Cuba, 71; and Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, 61.—CNS

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6

The Southern Cross, September 11 to September 17, 2019

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Safety from men

O

NCE in a while, news reports of rapes and murder of women and girls pile up to create a sense of despair among South Africans.

So it has been over the past month or so, when one news item after another detailed sometimes grotesque acts of violence against women. President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke of “a very dark period for us as a country”.

But this is not a period, which implies a beginning and end. The darkness the president speaks of has been cast over South Africa for a long time, and it will remain there yet. Gender and sexual violence, by deed or by threat, is the daily reality for almost every South African woman.

The recent avalanche of reports of assaults, abductions, rapes and murders provide for an occasion to express collective outrage, but they must not blind us to the daily prevalence of violence against women.

Mr Ramaphosa’s meetings with police will not address this reality, nor would the return of capital punishment, which might give the satisfaction of retribution but would offer no deterrent value (and is contrary to Church teachings.

Kneejerk reactions and platitudes gloss over the root of the problem: the patriarchy which provides the framework for the violence against women.

Most of that violence is committed within homes, in many of which misogynistic aggression is modelled and transmitted across generations.

The perpetrators of violence against women are not shadowy figures on whose faces are etched their evil designs. And their victims are not women who dress the “wrong way” or go out “too late”.

The victim of gender-based violence is any woman, and the perpetrator is any man.

Those who impose violence on women are husbands, boyfriends, fathers, uncles, brothers, cousins, in-laws, friends, colleagues and neighbours; teachers, religious leaders, taxi drivers, postal workers, businessmen, the cheerful fellow who fixes the window or delivers pizza.

Women and girls are not safe from men. They are not safe in the park, in their car, at the taxi rank, in the bus, in the post office, in the gym, at work, at school, in the streets walking the dog, even in their homes.

Women and girls cannot feel safe anywhere where there are men.

It is not women who should be called on to modify their behaviour—though by the ever-present threat of men, they are forced to. Men have to change.

In the patriarchal order, many men feel entitled to control and even violate women and children. Too many men, and many women, are complicit in this by tolerating it.

Some men will find ways to interject qualifications into the discourse that it’s not all men who are a threat to women. But for women, all men are a threat.

Because most attackers seem normal, we must come to terms with it that all men are a potential threat to women, even those who really pose none. Above everything else, men must recognise that. This places a collective responsibility on men—even and especially good men.

The patriarchal system must be crushed, not to deprive men of rights, but to give equal rights to women. The empowerment of women is a non-negotiable cornerstone of the fight against sexual and gender-based violence.

The idea that women’s sole function is to procreate, nurture and serve men must change. Language on gender and power relations must change, also within the Church.

And, more importantly than the president meeting with the police, the government has to lead the process of a modification of societal behaviour in ways that transcend platitudes in statements and promotional campaigns.

The Church has to be involved in that as well. In some regions, the Catholic Church already is active.

For example, the Justice & Peace Commission in the archdiocese of Durban has been holding many community forums in which women identify the visible and hidden manifestations of gender violence, and formulate responses to these.

In Klerksdorp diocese, Justice & Peace has been running the Tavern Project which mobilises tavern owners to socialise the men in their community to combat gender violence and sexual abuse.

These are concrete responses to a crisis which, as President Ramaphosa rightly noted, is “a stain on our national conscience”. Still more must be done.

Is marriage a cultural concept?

Y OUR report “Church reaction to amended polygamy law” (August 7) details the recognition of the Customary Marriages Act and agrees with the sentiments of providing the equal treatment of women in such marriages.

Protection in law of those in any union, contract or marriage is essential, and patriarchal systems can and have resulted in abuse. However, much circumspection and thoughtfulness must always be applied when involving other cultures and belief systems other than our own.

Believing polygamy to be wrong and even sinful can possibly be somewhat presumptuous. Perhaps there is an argument to be had for honouring an age-old tradition.

Maybe there is a cause to be considered. Maybe there isn’t. However, let us not judge out of hand.

Customary marriages have for centuries been a very integral part of African culture and cannot be disregarded because polygamy is denounced by Catholic beliefs and

Cardinal Pell a conspiracy victim

I

AM very disappointed that many are quick to accept Cardinal George Pell’s guilt following his conviction in Australia for sexual abuse and ever ready to join those who therefore disdain the Church.

I grant in charity that most only follow the popular media. But I would like to bring something else into consideration.

Firstly, Our Blessed Lady in a reported message to Irish visionary Christine Gallagher on February 28, 2019 said: “The knowledge my priest-son Cardinal George Pell possessed of financial wrongdoing and sexual misbehaviour which he desired to correct for the good of the Church and for the sake of Truth was the reason the power of darkness overshadowed him with false accusations. I desire the world to know of his innocence and I desire the man of sin who brought this about to be aware that his iniquity will be shown up in the light of God’s Justice. I held my mantle over my dear priest-son and my heart wept at what has been brought upon him in the endurance of this terrible injustice and deception.”

Also, in the early 1990s, the Lord reportedly mentioned to Debra of Australia that her “Bishop M” would become very famous, first locally and then internationally, alluding to his becoming one of Australia’s greatest saints.

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traditions. Strangely, in medieval Italy, the Church played no part in marriages; it was presided over by civil authorities. Even today, the two are separate.

Love for one another was not even considered. The families decided who should marry who and at what cost.

As much as lobola is required in African culture, so was the dowry system used to negotiate marriages in Catholic Italy. In some cases, young daughters were forced into convents because the families could not afford a dowry.

It is important to note that Catholicism, Judaism or Islam—or whatever other faith or culture is professed—have their own set of traditions and customs. These must be respected.

For instance, although the Children’s Act of 2010 prohibits elective circumcision of male children under the age of 16, it is allowed when performed for religious purposes.

Historian Prof Adrian Hastings,

While the Lord is very discreet and did not mention his name in print, Debra was in Melbourne, and “Bishop M” looks like “Bishop of Melbourne”, the position Cardinal Pell occupied at the time of the alleged offences he was tried for. The events fit nicely into this foretelling.

The Lord has also mentioned that there are more freemasons in Australia than anywhere else—they are even in high positions in the Church. They are enemies of the Church. Understand then the hatred for Cardinal Pell for his orthodoxy.

This is not the first nor the last false accusation against a priest— this has been going on forever and is a tactic favoured by the enemies of the Church. The enemies of the Church may exult in the big fish they have brought down.

If you plead guilty as a priest, you are finished as a priest; if you maintain your innocence, then you are neutralised with a long jail sentence.

Do try to see what is going on beyond the obvious. See also that the Cardinal Pell is not allowed to say Mass, is held in solitary confinement, and not even allowed his breviary. This is persecution, pure and simple. Wake up and support the innocent!

The accusations against Cardinal Pell come from the region where homosexual sin is most celebrated.

No wonder they will do anything to get at him by fair means of foul—if they can even perceive the

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who was a devoted scholar of Africa and African studies, reflected on polygamy in his report on the subject in 1973.

One of his positions put forward that a Christian can possibly adopt in relation to polygamy, was: “Polygamy is a form of marriage, monogamy another. Each has its advantages and disadvantages; they are appropriate to different types of society. It is not the task of the Church to make an absolute judgment between them.”

Prof Hastings also called for the relaxation of the clerical celibacy, especially in the context of African culture.

St Paul wrote: “Though I was not a slave, I put myself in slavery . . . to win as many people as I could.

To the Jews I made myself as a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the Law (though I am not), to win those under the Law. To the weak, I made myself weak, to win the weak.

“I accommodated myself to people in all kinds of different situations, so that by all possible means I might bring some to salvation” (1 Cor 9:20-23).

Tony Meehan, Cape Town

difference. “Strike the shepherd and scatter the flock.” Why are we so naive?

Gail Ramplen, Benoni

What’s your plan, bishops?

Y

OUR front-page lead of August 21 says: “Bishops: We must act on SA’s violence”. Indeed.

But, with respect, instead of stating the glaringly obvious, it would be good to hear precisely what the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) plans to do about criminal, domestic and sexual violence to women and children, and, in the case of men, murderous violence to each other.

Platitudinous generalities do not cut it and never have. The days of tiptoeing around uncomfortable issues and leaving the chilly business of standing up to be counted to courageous clergy of other denominations are long past, Your Lordships.

Chapter and verse(s), please.

Whom have Southern Africa’s Catholic bishops approached for responsible insight and expertise to help formulate a soundly researched, region-wide remedial programme? When is this to be announced and actioned?

As a Catholic woman, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, I would like to hear specifics.

Hilary Philips, Johannesburg

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PERSPECTIVES

Mary is always with us R ECENTLY I had an encounter with a young woman in her early twenties trying to gather strength to deal with the pain that goes with young life.

When we prayed together, she was reluctant to say a special prayer for Mary’s intercession. “I don’t have that devotion to Mary,” she said.

She is not alone—many young women have been in that space. May the Mother of Sorrows, whose feast falls on September 15, touch them in a special way and draw them to the safety and protection of her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.

I came to know Mary through prayer.

My late mother instilled in me a devotion to prayer in the early years of my childhood.

It started with the “Gentle Jesus” night prayer which she taught me to pray, allowing me to add my own words at the end of the prayer as it flowed from the depths of my little heart. It shaped my relationship with Jesus and prayer.

By the time I was eight years old, I knew how to pray the Rosary. This too was the grooming of my late mother and my late catechist. The red rosary I received at my First Holy Communion was always around my neck. Little did I know that they had prepared me for battle.

One afternoon around 17:00 I was with my late dad, who at the time was the head electrician in the rural village where we lived. He was with the assistant electrician and I observed that there was some conflict escalating.

As I saw a violent tension building between them, I ran to the nearest building: a bucket toilet, the hallmark of the apartheid system. My little heart was pounding in my ears. I was scared. I had a strange feeling that something bad was about to happen.

Instantly I knew that I had to pray— pray to Mary with my little red rosary. I prayed one decade in the toilet, ignoring the smell of faeces, praying under great affliction and anguish, with childlike trust.

As I stepped out of the toilet, my dad was on his back as his colleague hovered over him with a heavy iron hammer, about to bring it down on my dad’s head. But in a split second it seemed as if the iron hammer was stuck in the air, unable to be

moved by another.

My dad got up: unscathed. On that day Mary saved my father’s life. That day my eight-year-old self knew that I had witnessed a miracle: Mary’s miracle.

Sadly, by the time I was a twenty-something successful career woman in a painful relationship, my personal relationship with Mary was watered down. The reason: I simply stopped praying the Rosary. I claimed not having enough time for it.

I opted for simple daily prayer. The Rosary was something I prayed only during emergencies.

O

ne such time was during my mom’s sudden hospitalisation: that evening we prayed the Rosary together. It would be the last time. She unexpectedly died the next morning.

The nurse told me that my mom looked at a particular area in the room as if she saw someone and said, “Jesus”. At that very moment she peacefully passed from this world to the next. I have no doubt that Mary’s intercession was at work here; my mom believed in praying the Rosary.

In my late twenties I lost my father. On his sickbed, this Methodist asked to see a Catholic priest. That day he converted to Catholicism. He died a week later. I see Mary’s hand in all of this.

My twenties were marked by success and professional achievement, but also by loss, pain and sorrow. Professionally I broke “the glass ceiling”. In my private life

In her twenties, Colleen Constable stopped praying the Rosary regularly, but Our Lady never abandoned her.

(Photo: Chelsea Shapouri/Unsplash)

Colleen Constable

The Southern Cross, September 11 to September 17, 2019

Point of Faith

I lost my parents and I had to cut ties with the man in my life.

In my thirties I visited Medjugorje—out of guilt rather than devotion. I knew that I had neglected Mary while she had stayed true to me, all the time.

During this pilgrimage my relationship with Mary was restored. I encountered her in a very profound manner. I embraced her with childlike trust, surrendered my afflictions, my sorrow, my pain, hurts, wounds, aspirations and inspirations.

Twice I climbed Mount Krizevac (Cross Mountain) barefoot to do penance for myself, my relatives and my ancestors. I joined the 400 penitents who queued in a single day for confession as Mary led me to the sacrament of penance and reconciliation in Medjugorje. This confession was so different from all other confessions—it was a healing confession.

Two years after that visit, Our Lady answered a very important petition I presented for her intercession at the time. She answered it explicitly, leaving me with no doubts at all—she produced the evidence of a prayer answered.

I discovered Mary in all the instances of my life: she was always there, leading and guiding, even protecting me. I find great solace in the devotion to the Sorrowful Mother as my encounters with Mary started at a time of great affliction and anguish. Now my devotion to her is one of reparation and praise. I’m at peace in her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart—that is my space.

Women may go through different phases regarding their relationship with Mary. These phases are not always perfect—the relationship is not always perfect.

It is made “new” through the very intercession of Holy Mary. It is sustained by sincerity to develop a true devotion to Our Lady who is within us. She is within us because the Triune God lives in us. Where Jesus is, Mary is present too. Mary is within me—I walk with Mary in me.

Mary, mother of love, sorrow and mercy, pray for us. n Colleen Constable writes from Pretoria.

Be a sheep and count your blessings Julia Beacroft T ELEVISION ads are so much a part of our daily lives that we hardly notice them most of the time. But just occasionally there is one that tickles our fancy, so to speak…

Personally, I quite like a recent advert in Britain that promotes a brand of anti-insomnia tablets.

The distraught man in the advertisement is surrounded by advisers who tell him that his time to sleep is rapidly running out: only four hours and fifty-something minutes left to go… So as a last resort, they cry “Release the sheep!”

And with this we are back on familiar territory—the notion of counting sheep as they jump over a fence as a remedy for said sleeplessness, the idea being that you eventually drift off into oblivion through sheer boredom! Although this therapy doesn’t work for me, the ad makes me smile.

Bing Crosby, in his 1954 film White Christmas, took the idea a stage further when he suggested that as we lay awake hoping for sleep, we count our blessings instead of sheep: “And you’ll fall asleep counting your blessings,” Bing advised in the Irving Berlin song.

I really like this concept as it invokes another tool to combat wakefulness—and more importantly, it touches on an area in our lives which is sometimes overlooked.

Most of us have much to be thankful for—even our lives themselves—and as such it is good to celebrate this and give thanks to the Lord for it. Because after all, everything comes from God: our gifts and

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Point of Reflection

The sheep are released, but a famous singer once advised to hold the sheep and count blessings instead. (Graphic: Gerhard Gellinger) talents, our personalities, personal appearances and our life circumstances. All is pure gift and in our busy, frenetic lives we are sometimes in danger of forgetting this simple fact.

B

ut if you do prefer the age-old idea of counting sheep at night, this initiative also resonates for Christians.

The Gospels are full of references of Jesus being the Good Shepherd and we his sheep.

Contrary to the once-held opinion that sheep have a tiny brain and are extremely stupid, it has now been proven that actually the reverse holds true. So we, as the children of God, created in the image and likeness of him, are intelligent creatures

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who are nurtured by the loving Lord. And Jesus knows his sheep and his own know him, we are further informed.

Moreover, in John’s Gospel, it is written that the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. If we needed any further proof of how much we are loved by the Lord, surely this statement illustrates this beyond all doubt.

We know too that even if we go astray, the Lord seeks to bring us back into the fold, as he told us in this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep” (Lk 15:1-7). So not a single one of us is ever lost.

And so, whether we count our blessings or count our sheep, we can always be assured of the one constant in our lives which we can truly count on: the Lord. n Julia Beacroft’s book Sanctifying The Spirit is published by Sancio Books. It is available on Amazon.

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Lessons From Luke

How Jesus used parables to teach

M

OST of us have little trouble identifying our favourite stories from Jesus. These teaching tools which Jesus used frequently are known as parables, and they appear in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.

A parable simply puts two things side by side, usually two seemingly different things, and offers a lesson. For example, a parable might compare God to a shepherd or a father or a merchant. Or the kingdom of God may be compared to searching for a lost coin.

Though familiar sounding to us now, in the normal course of events these are not usually items that fit together—God and shepherds, or kingdoms and lost coins.

Parables have a way of grabbing our attention.

That grab for attention, disarming the hearer or the reader, is the beauty of a parable. It engages those who hear or read it in a manner that a straightforward command or teaching may not.

Jesus probably learned the art of using parables from his own Jewish tradition. Many of the stories found in the Old Testament are parabolic in nature.

For example, the story of Jonah is a lesson about obeying God and extending the news of God even to enemies. Jonah tried to avoid God’s command to preach to the Ninevites only to be swallowed by a fish and spat out on the shores of the very city where God had tried to send him.

It’s a not-so-subtle message about obedience to God. By teaching a lesson in story form with a memorable character and an unlikely series of events, God’s people would have been more likely to wrestle with its truth.

When Jesus told parables, he employed everyday situations (shepherding, travelling, family relationships, household chores) and believable characters (merchants, widows, religious leaders, farmers, bridesmaids) from his own time and place. The stories would have come alive to his immediate audience.

T

he parables also have meaning beyond their original time and place because they are part of the inspired and living words of Scripture. Our generation, centuries after the time of Jesus, struggles with many of the same things as Jesus’ original followers.

Like them, we want to learn to be forgiving, steadfast, just, and merciful; we want to walk the way of generosity and faithfulness; we want to embrace what it means to follow Jesus.

In Luke’s Gospel, which contains the largest collection of Jesus’ parables, the stories occur mainly in chapters 9-19. And, many of the parables found only in Luke are among the most beloved and well known.

For example, even those who are not students of the Bible or followers of Christ may be familiar with the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, the Lost Son, or the parable of the Good Samaritan. There is a definite call in these parables to widen the scope of who is included in the kingdom of God. And this makes sense, given the fact that Luke probably wrote his Gospel to a community that was largely Gentile.

The parables often end with an unexpected twist, helping us to be open to ongoing transformation. They summon us time and again to contemplate the kingdom of God and what it means to be kingdom people.

Given the fact that the term “Good Samaritan” has made its way into the normal speech of our culture, usually to describe offering assistance to a stranger in need, we turn our attention to the original story found in Luke 10:29-37.

When Jesus is challenged by a Jewish scholar to identify the neighbour we are called to love, he is really being asked “whom can we avoid loving?” Jesus cleverly tells the story of a man beaten senseless by robbers as he travelled the route from Jerusalem to Jericho. Jewish religious leaders ignored or even avoided the injured man, but a Samaritan stopped to help him.

Jews of the time would have known that the Samaritans were the enemy; they suffered a longstanding diet of mutual mistrust. The original listeners would have assumed that a Jew helping a Samaritan or vice versa was not a requirement of love.

Their assumption was attached to the kingdom of Israel and its history rather than the kingdom of God. The parable may ask us to help a stranger in need, but even more importantly it asks us to embrace a kingdom that sees no one as stranger. n This is the sixth in a ten-part series of articles on the Gospel of Luke produced by Little Rock Scripture Study and first published in the Arkansas Catholic.

8

The Southern Cross, September 11 to September 17, 2019

COMMUNITY The KBBR branch of the Catholic Women’s League in Bloemfontein celebrated at Mass with the St Rose of Lima branch. The event included the investiture of three new St Rose of Lima members, and four KBBR members receiving their 10-year badges. Mass was said by CWL spiritual director Fr Tshidiso Moleko OMI, with singing by the Dinakangwedi church choir from St Mark’s church. The KBBR league donated a cheque for R10 000 from a fundraising project to the church. (Submitted by Paul Chabalala)

St Patrick’s church in La Rochelle, Johannesburg, celebrated young parishioners’ First Communion, with the 70-strong children’s choir singing at the Mass, celebrated by parish priest Fr Jorge Guerra. (Submitted by Dominique Byrne)

The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus parish in Cambridge, East London, organised a dinner to celebrate the 60th birthday of parish priest Fr Varghese Kannanaickal CMI. (Submitted by Sharron Reynolds)

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On the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, all women of the parish of St Francis of Assisi in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, received cupcakes as a small token of appreciation.

The poem “Arise, Woman of God” by MS Lowndes was presented at Masses by Zoë Pieters, Dudu Malindi, and Siya Ledwaba.

Holy Rosary School in Edenvale, Johannesburg, turned 79, and paid tribute to founder Bishop Joseph Shanahan and the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary who came to South Africa from Ireland. Primary school pupils visited the Holy Rosary Sisters to offer prayers of thanks and to sing the school song and the Sisters’ special song “Go Ye Afar”.

Four new members of St Anne’s Sodality at St Peter Claver parish in Pimville, Soweto, were inaugurated.

They are (from left) Alphosina Mapatsoe, Cynthia Pulling, Elizabeth Mochisang and Teboho Tshabalala.

(Photo: Sello Mokoka)

St Henry’s Marist College in Glenwood, Durban, participated in the Umlazi Districts Cross Country Trials. Three pupils who starred were (from left) Micaela Williams (first in the U-19 girls), Amren Naidoo (fifth in the U-17 boys), and Lucas Duys (fifth in the U-14 boys). They went to Newcastle for the KwaZulu-Natal trials in late August.

Past students of Mariasdal High School in Tweespruit, Bloemfontein, held a surprise 80th birthday party for former principal Sr Electa Wild OSF (sitting front left with fellow retired teacher Sr Gertrude Ramokotjo OSF). Sr Electa, who came to South Africa as a missionary from Germany in 1961 and saw to it that black children at Mariasdal received quality education, now works at Bloemfontein’s Lesedi Centre of Hope. (Photo: Sr Winnie Mosolodi OSF)

Mater Domini Launches the circle of Friends “100 club” Planned Giving initiative.

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

Join the 'The Mater Domini circle of Friends 100 club'. – donate at least R100 per month Please join hands with us and help us to make a strong start to this initiative!

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St Kevin’s parish in Windvogel, Port Elizabeth, held a fundraising high tea during Women’s Month to celebrate the role each girl, woman, sister, mother and aunt play in society. The event included a motivational address

by Dr Carmenita Groves, and was well-supported by men, who hosted a Springboks and All Blacks rugby table. (Submitted by Jolindon Petersen)

The Southern Cross, September 11 to September 17, 2019

TRAVEL

9

Surprises on my pilgrimage A pilgrimage to the places of the Marist Brothers’ founder took MARK POTTERTON to France and to Rome. His experience was marked by things ancient and things youthful.

ple. The place is simple, but the experience is very powerful.

And this month Taizé is coming to South Africa, on the Youth Pilgrimage of Trust in Cape Town.

Visit to Taizé

T

HE airline magazine wasn’t wrong when it claimed: “Rome has everything; it takes to flood the senses and to overpower them: history, excess, power, conflict, decadence and most extraordinary beauty.”

Magnificent domes and towering steeples dot the skylines, and you are never too far from a church richly decorated with frescoes or mosaics, or even both.

Emerging from a subway you find yourself amidst the street life of a bustling city.

Our group of pilgrims was in Rome on a journey in the footsteps of St Marcellin Champagnat (17891850), the founder of the Marist Brothers, the congregation of Brothers dedicated to education which has several schools in South Africa.

We walked on those streets of Rome, often squeezing past others also clamouring to get a glimpse of the wonders of this great city.

The restored frescoes, marble statues, tapestries, paintings and other objects are overpowering; and the greenery and quiet of the gardens are a respite from the throngs of tourists.

As a pilgrim, you have to make your way to St Peter’s basilica in the Vatican.

The basilica towers above you, giving you a sense of God’s grandeur. It’s hard to believe that you are standing before a sculpture that dates back to 1499 when you admire Michelangelo’s Pietà.

While climbing up to the top of the dome, I met a Coptic priest and a Buddhist monk: all three of us were in awe of this spectacle. The view over St Peter’s Square and the surrounding city is breathtaking— you certainly get a sense of the vastness of the Eternal City.

Off the beaten track, in the outskirts of the city, we found ourselves in the quiet of the Trappist monastery at Tre Fontane, which dates back to 299 AD. Here we visited two churches marking the sites of St Paul’s imprisonment and execution.

The monophonic sounds of the monks’ voices resound off the ancient chapel walls to give you a feeling that you are truly in a holy place.

The tomb of St Paul is, of course, known to be at the basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls.

Spine-tingling Colosseum The next day we visited the Colosseum. The spine-tingling sight of this vast arena, built from 70-80 AD, hits you as soon as you emerge from the underground station.

In the heat, we were immediately offered ice-cold water to buy.

The village of La Valla in France, where St Marcellin Champagnat founded the Marist Brothers. (Inset) St Marcellin Champagnat, painted shortly before his death in 1840 by M Ravery. (Photo: Mark Potterton) The ruins speak of the grandeur of ancient times, and the shoulderto-shoulder crowds around the ruins are a reminder of what it might have been like in those ancient times.

We then left Rome to travel to Lyon, to what is known as “Champagnat country”.

St Marcellin was born in Marlhes, near Saint-Étienne, on May 20, 1789—in the year of the Storming of the Bastille, which sparked the French Revolution.

The political, economic and social unrest of the day made an impact on his priorities and life.

After his ordination in 1816, Marcellin was appointed priest in La Valla, a village on the slopes of Mont Pilat, not far from Saint-Étienne (legend says that Pontius Pilate is buried in the massif).

He was struck by the isolation in which people lived and the lack of education in the rural area. After attending to a dying 16-year-old who did not know basic Catholic teachings, he acted upon his conviction for the need for a religious congregation of Brothers aimed at education.

He encouraged two young men to join him to form the core of the Marist Brothers, and others soon followed.

many setbacks, including failing the first year at his minor seminary.

The multi-storey hermitage that he and his Brothers built is testimony to the determination they had.

An unexpected surprise for us on pilgrimage was the opportunity to participate in the Sunday Mass at Taizé, about two hours’ drive from St Chamond.

The spirit of the place is just as I imagined it would be. There is a tremendous sense of community among the different people from all over the world. I was excited to see so many enthusiastic young peo-

At Taizé, I reflected on the life of the founder, Brother Roger Schütz, who as a 24-year-old left Switzerland shortly after the outbreak of World War II to establish a house that accommodated both Christian and Jewish refugees from Nazi persecution.

Later he established a monastery there to promote ecumenical ideas and work among the youth.

At the airport back in Rome I picked up a book written by a lesser-known young person, Greta Thunberg. She’s a young Swedish activist who, at age 15, began protesting outside the Swedish parliament about the need for immediate action to combat climate change.

Greta, still just 16 years old, is now an outspoken climate activist and has even delivered a TED Talk.

A few years ago she was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and selective mutism. She has explained that selective mutism means she speaks only when she needs to. “Now is one of those moments,” she added.

She reminds us again of the power of young people. In a speech to British members of parliament earlier this year she told them: “You lied to us. You gave us false hope.

You told us that the future was

Br Roger Schütz, founder of the ecumenical Taizé community, in 1974.

Br Roger was killed at 90 in 2005 (Photo: Bundesarchiv) something to look forward to.

“And the saddest thing is that most children are not even aware of the fate that awaits us. We will not understand it until it’s too late.

And yet we are the lucky ones.

Those who will be affected the hardest are already suffering the consequences. But their voices are not heard.”

The message of people like St Marcellin, Br Roger and Greta Thunberg is simple: young people with a vision can change the world. n Dr Mark Potterton is the principal of Sacred Heart College Primary School in Observatory, Johannesburg. He was part of a Marist school leadership group who were on a pilgrimage to Rome and Champagnat country in France.

Marist Brothers’ birthplace La Valla became the birthplace of the Marist Brothers, named after the veneration of and devotion to Mary.

Between 1817 and 1824 Marcellin started a primary school at La Valla which became a teacher training centre for his young Brothers.

Our group of pilgrims was privileged to celebrate the Eucharist at Marcellin’s old wooden table in his house at La Valla.

We stayed at the hermitage near St Chamond, where Champagnat built a novitiate. The building is a sign of his trust in God and the success the Brothers had become.

What strikes me about the life of St Marcellin Champagnat (he was canonised in 1999) is his absolute resolution to be a priest, despite the

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10

The Southern Cross, September 11 to September 17, 2019

VOCATION

Journey from soccer stadium to altar A recently-ordained priest had a career in professional football when he began his long journey to the Catholic priesthood.

His reaction was: “Who, me?

Knock somewhere else, there are plenty others whom you can ask,” Fr Kaesberg recalled.

But he did not stray from the path that began long before Cape Town, England or the Cistercian monastery.

“I remember a moment in 2008 when my then-girlfriend was visiting me in Aachen. I sat with her on the couch and suddenly I started to cry. I confided in her that I intended to become a priest. At that moment [my vocation] was clear to me, even though I was resisting it and tried to push it away,” he recalled.

“But it still took me three years to decide to go to the priesthood,” he added.

I

NSTEAD of running after money, sex and power, a former professional footballer now plays the spiritual match of his life—as a Catholic priest.

Fr Patrick Kaesberg, 32, was ordained in the German archdiocese of Paderborn in June, but one of the many profound moments on his long journey to holy orders came in Cape Town.

Brought up in a Catholic home, the young Patrick lived football more than his faith. At 16, the former altar server told his mother that he was going to stop going to Mass.

“My mother said: ‘You are doing fine and we give you a lot of freedom. But surely you’ll be able to give at least one hour a week for the Lord, right?’

“That’s when I thought: ‘That’s right. If I don’t do that, can I still call myself a Christian?’” Fr Kaesberg told the Westfalen Blatt newspaper in an interview.

Still, his life was on the football pitch, even foregoing school trips to train. He played in the youth teams of Paderborn 07 (currently in the German top-flight) and Arminia Bielefeld.

His dedication and talent were rewarded in 2005, when at 18 the left-back joined the well-known professional club Darmstadt 98 (he later joined another tradition-laden club, Alemannia Aachen).

Looking beyond his career in football, Patrick also sought a career as sports administrator, so he began to study business administration in 2008.

Amid the cheers of the fans, Patrick didn’t hear God’s call—at first. He hadn’t rejected him, but God was one among many distractions.

During his studies, Patrick went to South Africa for an internship.

With other students, in 2010 he lived with the Schoenstatt Sisters in Cape Town.

“That was the first time I had experienced the universality of the Catholic Church,” Fr Kaesberg recalled. Here he found “brothers and sisters” in Christ.

Going to 7am Mass in Cape Town, he felt at home, he told the news portal katholisch.de.

“If a management consultancy were to ask what the unique selling point of the Church is, it would conclude: ‘You celebrate the same thing all over the world; that’s unbelievable!”

Fear of celibacy

Bishop Matthias König, auxiliary of Paderborn, Germany, during the ordination of former football professional Fr Patrick Kaesberg (centre) and two others in June. Fr Kaesberg has spoken about his long vocation journey from football stadiums to the altar, which includes a profound experience in South Africa. (Photos: Archdiocese of Paderborn) The Mass touched his heart and spirit, but it was a conversation with a man he met at Mass with the Schoenstatt Sisters that resonated with Patrick.

The 40-year-old man told him that he would have liked to become a priest, but had chosen the vocation of being a family man instead.

In retrospect, the man said, he regretted the decision for the family and against the priesthood.

Patrick, who was already discerning the call to the priesthood, was deeply shaken by that man’s admission, and began to think about his own life.

Selfish football world After his return to Germany, he gradually began to have increasing doubts about his future in a football world that is greedy, selfish and ruthless.

It was another internship, his last, that nudged Patrick further towards the priestly vocation.

While interning in England, he took part in a Catholic youth conference at which he met many priests and enthusiastic, openminded young Christians.

In that open atmosphere and in many conversations he had there, he realised how different and diverse vocations can be.

Another key experience was when, out of nowhere while he was hanging around his flat in Aachen, the thought of the Our Father and the line “Thy will be done” entered Patrick’s mind.

“I wondered if I had ever prayed that line seriously. I knew immedi-

ately: No! I never wondered what God’s plan for my life is,” Fr Kaesberg told the Westfalen Blatt.

He told the Lord that he would pray sincerely now, and “you have to show me what your will is”.

From that moment, his life took a different direction.

Time spent with Cistercian monks at the famous Holy Cross abbey in Austria sealed the deal.

Profoundly impressed by the simplicity and austerity of those monks, he gathered the courage to hang up his football boots, give up the idea of a career in business, and pursue the call to the priesthood— even if that meant overcoming a lot of internal resistance, especially with regard to clerical celibacy.

In 2012 he started his studies in theology in the diocese of Paderborn.

Fr Kaesberg emphasises that his response to God’s call was a gradual process which he had resisted for a long time.

First he had realised that he wanted to do something “meaningful”. Then he wanted “to work for the kingdom of God”.

Increasingly, he felt that Jesus was knocking on his door and calling him to the priesthood.

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Bishop Sylvester David prostrates himself during his ordination as auxiliary bishop of Cape Town in the auditorium of the City Hall. Inset: Bishop David before his ordination. (Photos: Stephen Docherty)

Robot now works in Vatican

BY CAROL GLATZ

T

P ilgrima ge 020 Pilgrimage 2020 ag ge 2

So outher u t h e r n C rross o ss os

HE 145-year-old Vatican pharmacy has a new employee: a state-of-the-art robot working behind the scenes to manage the stockroom, retrieve medications and deliver the drugs quickly to the shopfloor.

The Vatican, which claims to have the busiest pharmacy in the world, recently adopted the new automated system from the Germany-based BD Rowa firm.

The pharmacy’s director, Br Binish Thomas Mulackal, said the automated technology will revolutionise the way they ser ve some 2 000 customers who come through the doors each day.

Because the pharmacy robot takes in the order, scans for it in storage, picks it up with a mechanical arm and quickly delivers it via a series of conveyer belts, it will allow the pharmacists to remain with the customer at the counter longer to give needed instructions and advice, he told the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

The faster deliver y system also means customer wait time at the counter can be cut by 30%, he added.

Having a fully automated stockroom means the amount of space set aside for storage can be reduced, freeing up room that can be dedicated to the display and shopfloor or

The Vatican pharmacy robot in action.

(Photo: Vatican Media) to provide new ser vices to customers, Br Mulackal said.

The system, he said, will track sales and lighten the load when it comes to inputting and inventor ying stock. Its optical recognition technology also includes reading when medicines are close to expiring so they will not be dispensed.

Because robots are not 100% immune to electrical or mechanical breakdowns or jams, Br Mulackal said most problems could be fixed within four hours.

To o make sure the robot doesn’t succumb to its own vulnerabilities of viruses, bugs and other hiccups, the software must be updated regularly and correctly, he said.—CNS

MEDJUGORJE ROME • ASSISI • LORETO 18 27 May 2020 0 With Archbishop Stephen Brislin w w w.fo w l e r to u rs . c o . za / m e d j u

www.radioveritas.co.za streaming live

Archbishop Stephen Brislin speaks at the episcopal ordination of Bishop Sylvester David. Seated next to him is Cardinal Wilfrid Napier. (Photo: Stephen Docherty) He told his new auxiliar y that being a bishop today is not easy.

Quoting from St Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, the archbishop reminded Bishop David that “with all the love, honour and prestige given to us, we should not forget that we must always be prepared to be ‘fools for the sake of Christ’, to be placed ‘at the end of his parade’ and at times to be treated as the ‘offal of the world’”.

The vocation of a bishop “is not about honour or prestige”, Archbishop Brislin said. “It is a vocation that we have been called to fu ulfil and to do it in a way that will bring people closer to Christ.”

I

n his trilingual address, Bishop David noted that he was being consecrated to the episcopate by Archbishop Brislin, with Archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo of Bloemfontein, his fellow Oblate, and Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, whom he had served as vicar-general in Durban, as co-consecrators.

Continued on page 3

Pray in Medjugorje and visit Rome, with papal audience, Assisi, the town of St Francis, Loreto with Mary’s House.

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IT’S WORTH IT!

of-season trips to Mallorca puzzled them.”

Today, Fr Kaesberg doesn’t miss football.

“It’s all about the difference between fun and joy. A lot of the worldly things, even football, aim for that one moment [of fun] when everything is great, but after that there remains this inner drought.

And then you chase that moment again,” he said.

“But when you get to know Christ, you feel a joy that stays with you.”

Fr Kaesberg is grateful for his football experience. “It wasn’t time wasted and I’m in no way conflicted by that experience. But I am very thankful that I have found this way” to the priesthood, he said.

Besides, in his pastoral work, his story as the “football-priest” can open doors.

As a deacon he served in a parish in the industrial city of Dortmund, where everything revolves around the football club Borussia—to a point of intensity, Fr Kaesberg said, “that isn’t healthy”.

So with his background in football, “I always was straight away in conversation with people.”

As a priest, he still thinks it’s a little weird that he now administers the sacraments.

“Now I’m standing there, somehow the same person as before and somehow not. When I say in confession that sins are forgiven, then Christ speaks through me,” Fr Kaesberg said.

“That is something you cannot get used to—and maybe shouldn’t get used to.” n With reporting by katholisch.de and Westfalen Blatt.

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N the present age, the laity must take the lead in evangelisation, according to Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town.

“Wee live in a time of disillusionment for many, a time when trust has been betrayed by leaders, whether they be political, economic or Church leaders,” Archbishop Brislin said, also noting the many people who have left the Church or are indifferent to it.

The archbishop was speaking at the ordination Mass of his new auxiliary, Bishop Sylvester David, in Cape To own’s City Hall.

“Wee live in a time of deep uncertainty and insecurity as foundations we have always taken for granted in terms of cultural or national identity, or what used to be commonly held values, are swept from under our feet.

“The temptation is to retreat into a fearful response, like an animal cornered, or to tr y and desperately re-establish an idealised old order that gives the illusion of having being a more perfect era,” the archbishop noted.

“Facing these challenges is the ministry of the Church,” he said, and this must be done by “bringing the love of Christ to those who thirst and long for it”.

The whole Church is called to “make that love concrete”, Archbishop Brislin said.

“Perhaps now more than ever, it is the laity who have to become the primar y evangelisers, for it is they who have more direct contact with people and share in their daily lives and have greater opportunity to console, comfort and strengthen,” he said.

“The Christian vocation is to love, and every particular vocation in the Church is an invitation to deepen love, whether it be through marriage, the clerical state, religious life or single life,” the archbishop said.

“Wee can fulfil our call and our mission only if we strive to love more sincerely, more tenderly, each day.

“And this must be especially true of a bishop,” Archbishop Brislin said.

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The mandatory celibacy required of priests was a particular obstacle, at least initially.

“When I was 18, my mother asked me if I could imagine becoming a priest. I said, ‘ No, I would like to have children and a family at a later stage’,” Fr Kaesberg recalled.

“In the years before I began studying theology, I fought inwardly against [the idea of priestly celibacy] and could not imagine it.

I was scared: how would that turn out to be? Would I be lonely?’” he explained.

“It was always clear to me that I had my freedom. There is a beautiful passage in the New Testament, in 1 John: ‘God is love.’

As Christians, we believe that. Love is always free. I cannot force a person to love me.

“And when I feel that this is God’s plan for my life, then I still have the freedom to say yes or no. But at some point I knew: if I don’t do that, I’ll regret it later,” he said.

The example of other priests helped him overcome those concerns.

“I saw they were very normal and cool. And they didn’t seem sad or lonely to me,” he said, adding: “And let’s be honest— even being married doesn’t mean that you can’t be lonely. You can sit side by side on the couch and still feel lonely.”

While his friends were supportive of his decision to join the priesthood, his football teammates couldn’t understand it.

“They thought I was stupid. The fact that I always went to church on Sundays and didn’t go on the end-

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Sr Marian Moriarty IBVM

L

ORETO Sister Marian Moriarty died aged 72 on August 22 in Pretoria following a stroke.

Sr Marian was born in 1948 in Killorglin, County Kerry, Ireland, and was a former superior general of the Loreto Sisters.

Her sudden death shocked those who worked with her caring for refugees in the last two years of her life.

Not once had she looked ill since she was introduced by Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria at the end of 2017 as the head of the Pastoral Office for Refugees and Migrants.

Sr Marian took to her new position like a duck to water, and the quality of services improved as the office focused not only on the documentation side but also on the humanitarian side, as she generously handed out food, clothes and even transport fare.

She also got involved with organisations such as the Tshwane Homeless Forum and Caritas, working on donations to victims of Cyclone Idai in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

At the Pastoral Office for Refugees and Migrants, Sr Marian made sure staff followed up on refugees, visiting them in their residences and in hospitals, where they would carry food for them which she bought with her own money.

She would be happy where conditions were good, and sad where they were bad. Mostly she was sad, especially when she could not help a refugee as much as she would have liked, due to lack of money.

Sr Marian was always in a happy mood when she and her staff visited hospitals, especially Weskoppies Mental Hospital,

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Sr Marian Moriarty, who worked with refugees and migrants, with one of her spiritual daughters, Faith Ngari. which she admired for its standard of care.

They would be welcomed as “superstars”, with the staff eager to report on each patient visited.

Sr Marian would always quip, “Don’t you think the refugees are better off in there than outside?

At least they have a roof over their heads and don’t have to scavenge for food.”

S

he experienced first-hand the suffering, anguish and trauma of refugees, and I did indeed wonder at times how long she would endure the depressing effects of her work.

Six months before her death, she was worried that her efforts were mere drops in the ocean.

Sr Marian then organised meetings of all groups engaged with refugees, aiming to improve the flow of funds. And she asked me if I had a permanent solution to the refugee crisis as our efforts

Southern CrossWord solutions

SOLUTIONS TO 880. ACROSS: 1 Hope, 3 Amicable, 9 Lateran, 10 Exult, 11 Walking stick, 13 Esther, 15 Consul, 17 Monotheistic, 20 Audit, 21 Matrons, 22 Annoying, 23 Keep. DOWN: 1 Holy Week, 2 Petal, 4 Manage, 5 Creationists, 6 Bounces, 7 Eats, 8 Praiseworthy, 12 Plucks up, 14 Trodden, 16 Shaman, 18 Trove, 19 Cana.

seemed targeted at dealing only with its symptoms, not its cause.

While I cried when I heard of her death, many of my tears were for the refugees she had adopted as her own children and who would now be alone. She had become their light of hope.

I prefer to take solace in knowing she died doing what she enjoyed doing. And I will draw my strength to move on in her absence from the only source she drew hers—the Gospels.

Sr Marian is survived by her brothers Michael and Donald, her sisters Noreen and Eileen, her sisters-in-law Audrey and Dolores, her brothers-in-law Desmond and James, her nieces and nephews, and her grandnieces and grandnephews.

The Loreto Sisters in Pretoria, the Loreto community worldwide, and her many colleagues and friends mourn her.

By Mike Mwale

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PrAYerS

GILOWeY—Kerry Anne. I will be saying prayers for you to have a safe Camino Walk in Spain. Our Blessed Lord will be watching over you and St James will be walking with you. Take care, love Mom.

Thursday September 19, St Januarius 1 Timothy 4:12-16, Psalm 111:7-10, Luke 7:36-50 Friday September 20, Ss Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul HaSang and Companions 1 Timothy 6:2-12, Psalm 49:6-10, 1720, Luke 8:1-3 Saturday September 21, St Matthew Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13, Psalm 19:2-5, Matthew 9:9-13 Sunday September 22, 25th Sunday of the Year Amos 8:4-7, Psalm 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8, 1 Timothy 2:1-8, Luke 16:1-13

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days Jesus promised to be with me, a companion on my journey, and my life today, if I trust him, has consequences unseen. My life has a purpose. I have a mission.

I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. God has not created me for naught. Therefore I will trust him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. God does nothing in vain. He knows what he is about. John Henry Newman O HOLY VIrGIN, in the midst of your days of glory, do not forget the sorrows of this earth. Cast a merciful glance upon those who are suffering, struggling against difficulties, with their lips constant pressed against life’s bitter cup. Have pity on those who love each other and are separated. Have pity on our rebellious hearts.

Have pity on our weak faith.

Have pity on those we love.

Have pity on those who weep, on those who pray, on those who fear. Grant hope and peace to all. Amen.

PerSONAL

ABOrtION WArNING: The truth will convict a silent Church. See www.valuelife abortionisevil.co.za ABOrtION WArNING: The Pill can abort. All Catholic users (married or cohabiting) must be told, to save their souls and their unborn infants. See www.epm.org/ static/uploads/downloads/ bcpill.pdf

HOLIDAY AccOMMODAtION

Magisterium: The teaching office of the universal Church, articulated by a pope. Papal statements which teach on a matter of faith and morals are called magisterial pronouncements and are binding on Catholics. Most statements and documents of popes are not magisterial.

Year C – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday September 15, 24th Sunday of the Year Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14, Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 17-19, 1 Timothy 1:12-17, Luke 15:1-32 Monday September 16, Ss Cornelius and Cyprian 1 Timothy 2:1-8, Psalm 28:2, 7, 8-9, Luke 7:1-10 Tuesday September 17, St Robert Bellarmine 1 Timothy 3:1-13, Psalm 101:1-2, 2-3, 5, 6, Luke 7:11-17 Wednesday September 18 1 Timothy 3:14-16, Psalm 111:1-6, Luke 7:31-35

crOSS—Melvyn Errol.

Passed away September 8, 2018. In loving memory; your love for the faith is a constant reminder to us.

Lovingly remembered and always in our thoughts.

Fondly missed by Eleanor your wife, daughters JoAnne, Melanie and Natasha, sons Phillip, Lester and Shaun, and grandchildren Erin, Khanya and Luke.

LetOrD—Edna Madeline.

Passed away 17 years ago on September 19, 2002. In loving memory. Will always be remembered and loved by her family Helen, Stephen, Matthew, Thérèse and Kieran, Janet, Dean, Michael and Kyle, Anne, Basil, Sarah, Warren and Jessica and her sister Joan Swanson. May her soul rest in peace.

Word of the Week

Liturgical Calendar

MAY ALL I DO today begin with you, O Lord. Plant dreams and hopes within my soul, revive my tired spirit: be with me today. May all I do today continue with your help, O Lord. Be at my side and walk with me: be my support today. May all I do today reach far and wide, O Lord. My thoughts, my work, my life: make them blessings for your kingdom; let them go beyond today. O God, today is new unlike any other day, for God makes each day different. Today God's everyday grace falls on my soul like abundant seed, though I may hardly see it. Today is one of those

Pregnant? need help?

cAPe tOWN: Looking for reasonably priced accommodation over the December/January holiday period?

Come to Kolbe House, set in beautiful, spacious gardens in Rondebosch, nestled just under Devil’s Peak. Selfcatering, clean and peaceful with spacious gardens.Safe parking. Close to all shops and public transport. Contact Pat 021 685-7370, 073 2632105 or kolbe.house@ telkomsa.net Visit our website www.kolbehouse.org.za MArIANeLLA Guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of God with us.” Fully equipped, with amazing sea views.

Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy.

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Also, we’d welcome new notices from parishes across Southern Africa to run free in the classifieds. cAPe tOWN: A Holy Hour Prayer for Priests is held on the second Saturday of every month at the Villa Maria shrine from 16:00 to 17:00. The shrine is at 1 Kloof Nek Road in Tamboerskloof. The group prays for priests in the archdiocese, and elsewhere by request.

Retreat day/quiet prayer last Saturday of each month except December, at Springfield Convent in Wynberg, Cape Town. Hosted by CLC, 10.00-15.30. Contact Jill on 083 282-6763 or Jane on 082 783-0331.

Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Good Shepherd parish, 1 Goede Hoop St, Bothasig, welcomes all visitors. Open 24 hours a day. Phone 021 558-1412.

Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. Mass on last Saturday of every month at 9:30 at Sacred Heart church in Somerset Road, Cape Town.

Followed by vigil at abortion clinic. Contact Colette Thomas on 083 412-4836 or 021 593 9875 or Br Daniel SCP on 078 739-2988.

DUrBAN: Holy Mass and Novena to St Anthony at St Anthony’s parish every Tuesday at 9:00. Holy Mass and Divine Mercy Devotion at 17:30 on first Friday of every month. Sunday Mass at 9:00. Phone 031309-3496 or 031 209-2536.

St Anthony’s rosary group.

Every Wednesday at 18:00 at St Anthony’s church opposite Greyville racecourse. All are welcome and lifts are available. Contact Keith Chetty on 083 372-9018.

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

PArISH NOtIceS

NeW PArISH NOtIceS MOSt WeLcOMe: If any parish notices listed are no longer valid, call us on 021 465-5007 or e-mail us at m.leveson@scross.co.za so that we can remove them.

We cAre

081 418 5414 DBN 079 742 8861 JHB

St Robert Bellarmine

St Januarius

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We welcome prayers, volunteers and donations.

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The Southern Cross is published independently by the catholic Newspaper & Publishing company Ltd. Address: PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000. tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850 www.scross.co.za editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za), Business Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za), Advisory editor: Michael Shackleton, Local News: Erin Carelse (e.carelse@scross.co.za) editorial: Claire Allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), Mary Leveson (m.leveson@scross.co.za), Advertising: Yolanda Timm (advertising@scross.co.za), Subscriptions: Michelle Perry (subscriptions@scross.co.za), Accounts: Desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za), Directors: R Shields (Chair), Bishop S Sipuka, S Duval, E Jackson, B Jordan, Sr H Makoro CPS, J Mathurine, G Stubbs, C Mathieson*

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the

25th Sunday: September 22 Readings: Amos 6:1, 4-7, Psalm 146: 7-10, 1 Timothy 6:11-16, Luke 16:19-31

W

HAT are we to do about money, you and I? First and foremost, we have to recognise that it can do funny things to us, unless we recognise that it is an alternative “god”. That, it seems, is what the readings for next Sunday are telling us.

The first reading is a powerful diatribe against those who give themselves over to money: “you who trample on the needy, and destroy the poor of the land”.

Then we listen in to their self-interested conversation: “When will the New Moon pass by, and we can sell our grain? Or the Sabbath and we can put the wheat on show?” And in horror Amos hears them outline their aim, which is “to sell the humble for money and the poor man for sandals”.

After that the prophet allows us to eavesdrop on God, as we hear the divine response: “I shall never forget their deeds.”

We need to look squarely at our inclination to be seduced by money.

The psalm follows in much the same line.

There is an invitation to praise God “from the rising of the sun to its setting”; and nothing must get in the way of that, but we need to recognise that we can fail here. This is a God whom we do not always succeed in coming

S outher n C ross

to grips with (“Who is like the Lord our God?”); but an ancient theme of the Jewish scriptures is that we must look after the poor: “He raises the humble from the dust, and lifts up the poor from the ash-heap.”

So our fascination with money needs to be healed, if we are to understand this God. The second reading does not really talk very much about money; but it does emphasise how our discipleship may demand of us that we turn the world upside-down.

It starts by inviting us to “offer prayers…on behalf of everybody”, especially “for emperors and those in authority”, not in the way we have sometimes placed ourselves on the side of the powerful, but “that we may live a serene and tranquil life in all piety and dignity”.

The reason is simply that God “wishes everybody to be saved and come to knowledge of truth”. What matters is this: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and human beings, the human being Jesus Christ.”

Then, however, we are offered a glimpse of the costliness of it all: “He gave himself as a ransom for everyone.” This was the cross, that is so much a part of Paul’s teaching, the affirmation that there is no other God but one, and

I

emotional intelligence which she combines with the refined aesthetics of an artist and then further combines those two with the skill of a gifted, natural writer. It makes for a good package.

Content is only part of the gift of this book. Beyond its message, it’s a great piece of writing and a nice piece of art as well.

It’s also a book about faith, though Renkl does not express this very explicitly. She writes primarily as a naturalist, an urban “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek”, someone who admires nature, spends a lot of time with it, understands well its prodigal character and its innate cruelties, and understands too how those cruelties (where, within nature, life can seem cheap and easily taken) are connected to the deepest forces undergirding all life, including our own.

She shares a certain complexity of character with the great palaeontologist and mystic Pierre Teilhard de

Conrad

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Fr Ron Rolheiser

Final Reflection

Chardin, who was fond of saying that he was born with two incurable loves: a natural love of the pagan world and all its beauties, and an equally strong love for the mystical, the other world, that is, the God behind this world.

However, unlike Teilhard, who is very explicit about his sense of God and the centrality of faith, Renkl’s faith is more inchoate, though clearly manifest in her understanding of nature and in how she intuits the finger of God working inside the stories she shares.

T

he book is a compilation of short essays, alternating between wonderfully aesthetic descriptions of the life of the birds she feeds and the gardens she tends to equally sensitive descriptions of her own life and that of her family, particularly in terms of loss and grief as inextricably intertwined with love. A few examples: On our shortcomings in life: “Human beings are creatures made for joy. Against all evidence, we tell ourselves that grief and loneliness and despair are tragedies, unwelcome variations from the pleasure and calm and safety that in the right way of the world would form the firm ground of our being.”

On the lessons to be learned from observing nature: “Every day the world is teaching me what I need to know to be in the world.”

On how sentimentality makes for a one-sided compassion: “The story of one drowned Syrian boy washed up in the surf keeps us awake

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Sunday Reflections

that the consequences may be uncomfortable.

The Gospel is a beautifully told story of the discomfort that comes with asserting our service to God alone.

It begins with the contrast between “a rich man” and his “steward”. They are in a thoroughly asymmetrical relationship of power.

In the first place, the steward has been “slandered”, presumably meaning there is no truth to allegations against him, “that he was squandering his [the master’s] possessions”.

Then, secondly, the steward is brought before his master, and, without much in the way of an enquiry, dismissed from his job: “You can’t do the stewarding any longer.”

After that, thirdly, and entirely to our delight, we are permitted to eavesdrop on the newly-dismissed steward as he plans his next move: “I don’t have the strength to dig; I am ashamed to go begging.”

Then he saves his master’s debtors a good deal of what they owe: “Take your document, and sit down quickly and write 50”; “Take your document, and write 80”.

After that we hear the astonishing verdict: “The Lord [and we are not clear whether this means Jesus, or the slave’s master] praised the

Great joys and great pains F we follow him, Jesus says, then the cross, pain, will find us. That message is chronically misunderstood.

Maybe we would understand it better if Jesus had worded it this way: “The more sensitive you become, the more pain will seep into your life.”

We catch the connection then. Sensitive people suffer more deeply, just as they also drink in more deeply the joys and beauties of life. Pain enters them more deeply for the same reason that meaning does. They’re open to it.

The calloused (by definition) are spared of both, deep pain and deep joy.

With this as a backdrop I would like to introduce readers to a new book by Margaret Renkl, Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss.

This book manifests a rare sensitivity. Some people are gifted intellectually, others artistically, others romantically, and still others emotionally.

Renkl is gifted with all of these; particularly with an

Nicholas King SJ

God and Mammon

at night with grief. The story of four million refugees streaming out of Syria seems more like a math problem.”

On nature’s beauty and its cruelty: “Inside the nest box, the baby birds are safe from the hawks, sheltered from the wind, protected from the sharp eye of the crow and the terrible tongue of the red-bellied woodpecker. [But] inside the nest box, the baby birds are powerless, vulnerable to the fury of the pitched summer sun, of the house sparrow’s beak. Bounded on all sides by their sheltering home, they are a meal the rat snake eats at its leisure.”

On taking care of our ageing loved ones until they die: “The end of caregiving is freedom. The end of caregiving is [also] grief.”

On responding to a woman who insinuated that she, Renkl, was a coward because she much feared the loss of loved ones: “It occurred to me to wonder if she had ever, even once, loved anyone enough to fear the possibility of loss, but that thought was as ugly as her own, and in any case she was not wrong.”

Fr Richard Rohr OFM suggests that we are forever dealing with the twin truths of great suffering and great love.

In her book, Renkl shares how her mother, a woman who could in certain areas of her life exhibit extraordinary energy and zest, would sometimes suffer periods of paralysing depression and how she herself is not immune to that same experience.

There’s a logic to that since, as Jesus says, sensitive persons drink in things very deeply, both suffering and love, and the former can paralyse you in grief, even as the latter can give you extraordinary energy and zest.

This book deserves to be read.

steward for his immorality: because the children of this world are more prudent than the children of light.”

After all this, we are given the explanation: “I’m telling you: make yourselves friends from the Mammon of iniquity.” Now at this point we should explain that “mammon” is an Aramaic word meaning that which you can rely on (so here “money”); and the point here is that it can be addictive, and will certainly not bring us the freedom we seek, which is that “they may welcome you into the eternal tents”.

This is followed by some (slightly confusing?) sayings that hint at the mystery of the power that money can exercise over us, for example, “If you were not reliable in regard to unjust Mammon, who will entrust you with the Real Thing?”

The bottom line is this: “No one can serve two ‘lords’…you cannot serve God and Mammon.”

We may need to reflect upon this saying, this week.

Southern Crossword #880

AcRoSS

1. St Paul said it’s not as great as charity (4) 3. Claim Abe inclines to friendliness (8) 9. Pope’s cathedral church is St John … (7) 10. Show elation in Essex ultimatum (5) 11. Could the crozier be mistaken for this kind of support? (7,5) 13. There’s about one biblical book to her name (6) 15. Roman official in the Gospel (6) 17. I come not this way around to kind of faith (12) 20. Inspection of parish accounts (5) 21. Women in charge of wards (6) 22. Making you irritated (8) 23. How to hold on to the Commandments (4)

DoWn

1. Seven days before the great liturgical celebration (4,4) 2. A drop from the altar flowers? (5) 4. Run and be in charge (6) 5. They believe God made everything (12) 6. Springs up after a service on grass? (7) 7. Goes East for taking food (4) 8. Like a saint, deserving of approval (12) 12. Summons all your courage (6,2) 14. Tread well past (7) 16. He contacts the spirit world and has man confused (6) 18. Stash of treasure (5) 19. Town where water changed (4)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

T

HE rector at the seminary is speaking with the first-year intake about how they think they can serve the Church after their ordination.

Some students talk about evangelisation and pastoral work, one about the prison ministry, another would like teach in the seminary himself one day.

The last seminarian says that soon after his ordination, he would like to become a cardinal.

“A cardinal? Have you lost your mind?” the rector demands to know.

“Why?” answers the seminarian. “Is that the job requirement?”

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