191002

The

S outher n C ross

October 2 to October 8, 2019

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

Welder moulds young with God’s help

No 5155

www.scross.co.za

Even Hindus love this new saint

Page 2

R12 (incl VAT RSA)

Why the Church is losing the youth

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No place on PPCs for domestic, sexual abusers

BY ERIN CARELSE

D Staff of Khanya House, the headquarters of the bishops’ conference, with visiting St John Vianney Seminary students. The visit was intended to inform the future priests about how the local Church is structured, and the work the SACBC does daily. (Photo: Fr Paul Tatu CSS)

Learning what the Church does

BY FR PAUL TATU CSS

A

Pilgrimage 2020

S outher n C ross

VISIT to the headquarters of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) was an eyeopener for many seminarians at St John Vianney Seminary in Pretoria “Many Catholics are not familiar with the structure of the Church and what the local Church is doing daily, said SACBC associate secretary-general Fr Patrick Rakeketsi CSS. This is also true of many seminarians, he said.

A group of 14 first-year theology seminarians visited Khanya House, the SACBC’s Pretoria head office, to be introduced to the structure of the Church as well as the projects being undertaken by the bishops’ conference.

“Despite being fully armed with the teachings of the Church and what is expected from them when they complete the seminary [training] and become priests, many priests have gone through their initial formation in the seminary without being aware of what is really taking place at the heart of the local Church,” Fr Rakeketsi explained.

It was only recently that the leadership of the local Church, together with the forma-

tion teams of the seminary, arranged to help the seminarians get a fuller picture about the institution they will be working for.

The initiative will also assist them to evaluate their skills and choice of specialisation so that they can contribute effectively to the mission of the Church.

Fr Rakeketsi gave the seminarians an orientation about the structure of the Church, the responsibility of different SACBC departments, and special programmes the Church is presently undertaking.

They were also briefed about the work of different associate bodies and commissions which operate under six SACBC departments not located in Khanya House.

The visiting seminarians also joined staff members of Khanya House for Mass.

In his homily, Fr Rakeketsi called on the seminarians to promote peace and calm in the country, as mandated by St Paul in his letter to Timothy.

“As ministers of the word of God, you are to help people to live a life of peace and calm. It is not a mission only reserved for priests but for everybody,” he said.

After Mass, the seminarians had opportunity to socialise the staff members, to find out more about their work for the local Church.

OMESTIC abusers cannot be the face of the Church and should not be in structures such as parish pastoral or finance councils, according to the coadjutor archbishop of Durban.

Speaking at a conference for young girls and women, Archbishop Abel Gabuza said the archdiocese would introduce a new policy by which all Church officials, men or women, would be vetted not only for sexual but also for domestic abuse before they can work for the Church.

“This will be done in accordance with the country’s policy, too, whereby if any man is found to be a child molester or pervert, he cannot work for the Church,” Archbishop Abel Gabuza said.

He said that the policy had been decided on by the bishops in their last plenary. A pastoral letter will be issued soon so that the policy can be implemented in his archdiocese’s parishes immediately.

Archbishop Gabuza was addressing young girls and women who had come from different parishes and religious congregations for an annual conference hosted by Durban archdiocese’s Justice & Peace Commission (J&P).

The archbishop said he believes that no abusive man should take part in any Church structures, such as parish pastoral councils or parish finance councils.

“Such men cannot be the face of the parish while they bring harm to the communities,” he said.

Archbishop Gabuza also spoke about the importance of family life, where ideally parents live in peace and harmony with their children and abuse has no existence.

He reiterated the Southern African bishops’ statement against the abuse of women and children, saying that the Church stands with women and sympathises with victims of violence.

Catholic motivational speaker Dr Kuda Shonhiwa, director of Peace Oasis International, spoke about a common issue that ter-

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Archbishop Abel Gabuza, coadjutor in Durban, has said that those who commit domestic or sexual abuse must not serve on Church structures, including parish councils. tiary students find themselves trapped in.

He noted that the “Blessers and Blessee” problem, where women exchange sexual favours or companionship for material reward, has been mushrooming on campuses.

According to Dr Shonhiwa, 50% of women at a tertiary institution are rumoured to be in a sexual relationship with older men.

As a lecturer at the Durban University of Technology, he has seen this practice rapidly increasing on campuses.

“This has become a serious problem in tertiary institutions, and these men know how to entice their victims,” Dr Shonhiwa said.

He noted that parents don’t often visit their daughters at the campus and if they do, they inform them in advance that they are coming.

He encouraged mothers of students to arrive unannounced on weekends to check up on their daughters, and challenged the young women to set an example and refuse to participate in the Blessers-and-Blessee relationships.

Robert Mafinyori of J&P spoke on the issue of masculinity and its impact on societies, Continued on page 3

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!

2

The Southern Cross, October 2 to October 8, 2019

LOCAL

‘Dialogue unites believers against nihilism and injustice’

BY FR PAUL TATU CSS

R

ELIGION should not be used as a political tool or as a form of oppression, apostolic nuncio Archbishop Peter Wells told Catholic delegates at a meeting on ecumenism and interreligious dialogue.

Fifty delegates from South Africa and Botswana met at the Lumko Institute and Retreat Centre in Benoni, Johannesburg archdiocese, to renew their commitment to the ecumenism initiated by Vatican II. Archbishop Wells said that religion must not be confined, but expressed in the public sphere. It must also educate young people in respect, responsibility and non-violence, which is possible only with the help of the Holy Spirit.

He reminded delegates that Christ himself mandates ecumenism and interreligious dialogue.

“The main mission of the two is to encourage different religions to learn from each other and go against

the prevalent culture of staying in a circle of like-minded people,” the archbishop said. Dialogue across faith communities aims to “unite with people of other faiths against nihilism and any kind of injustice”.

Archbishop Wells noted that the Church, with the World Council of Churches, is engaging governments on their policies and economies.

“Many teaching documents are being produced and they must be brought to grassroots level, without a silo mentality,” he said, using a term to describe not cooperating with others pursuing the same goal.

Bishop Jan de Groef of Bethlehem, chair of the Southern African bishops’ conference’s Department of Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue, asked participants to express their expectations and fears. Most wished to strengthen their skills at unity-building and overcoming antagonism and prejudice.

Panellists at the symposium in-

cluded four members of South Africa’s Church Unity Commission: Dr Ishmael Noko, former general-secretary of the Lutheran World Federation; Pastor Gustav Claassen of the Dutch Reformed Church; Anglican Bishop Allan Kannemeyer; and commission secretary-general Sikawu Makubalo, a Methodist pastor.

Each gave a testimony of their ecumenical pilgrimage through friendships, family ties, shared mission, liturgy, encounters, Bible-sharing, and engagement in the struggle against apartheid.

Representatives of other religions also addressed the symposium.

Bishop Victor Phalana of Klerksdorp appealed to those of all faiths to stand together to tackle xenophobia and gender-based violence in South Africa.

The SACBC has printed booklets of guidelines on ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, which will be made available to parishes.

Fr Tsepo Duik and Archbishop Buti Tlhagale in conversation at Johannesburg’s archdiocesan synod, held every ten years, at Cathedral Place in Berea. (Photo: Sheldon Reddiar)

Young woman welder is moulding next generation

I Fifty delegates attended a symposium of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue in Johannesburg archdiocese.

(Photo: Fr Paul Tatu CSS)

NNOCENTIA Vilakazi, a facilitator at the Salesians’ Don Bosco Educational Projects (DBEP) in Ennerdale, Johannesburg, is among a small cohort of women welders in South Africa—thanks to God. She qualified in 2013 and worked at Aveng Engineering as a structural welder before joining DBEP. This came about through personal pain.

“My life was about careers and making money and in the process, I lost sight of God,” she said.

“At the end of 2016 I lost everything I worked for: car, house, my marriage...everything just fell apart.

I fell into depression.

“The year 2017 was even worse; but then that’s when I started developing a relationship with God again,” she said.

“And in 2018 I discovered DBEP, applied for this job vacancy and got it. At this stage in my life I had absolutely nothing but faith.”

DBEP runs several centres in Ennerdale, providing basic education and skills to young people not able to register at formal educational institutes. The Salesian initiative works with community and church leaders.

Ms Vilakazi said she loves her job. “Being at DBEP is such a pleasure for me; I love my working environment. Working with these young people keeps you young!

“I learn to appreciate them because they come from backgrounds that are tough and challenging. I learn to value their talents and skills,” she said.

“When I go to bed I reflect on the things that happened during the day and I think to myself, ‘What am I going to do better tomorrow?’” she added.

Ms Vilakazi has also learnt patience. “Sometimes I want to fix situations these youngsters go through, but then you realise you

can’t fix every situation.”

She believes there are key differences between a Salesian education and other institutions.

“At DBEP it is not only about career growth, but personal growth also. We work on their faith, we work on their personal skills, interpersonal skills. More is invested in developing the person.

“Just as the career is important, so too the soul, the spirit, has to be taken care of. Look at schools today, children don’t even pray at schools anymore!”

Ms Vilakazi has faced challenges as a woman in a “man’s world”.

“As a female welder you are more prone to exploitation. Sometimes companies look at your CV and think, ‘It’s a woman, so she can’t work as fast as a man or she can’t work as hard as a man,’ she noted.

“In actual truth, women are far better welders than men because it is a very delicate skill which requires precision,” she argued.

Ms Vilakazi aims high for her students.

“You get youngsters who start this course and say to themselves, ‘I want to make burglar bars’, and I think to myself, ‘No…you must aim higher: design power stations, make boilers, create bigger things.’

“When you have worked on a big project with others you can say, ‘Yeah, I made that, my stamp is on that.’”

Her message to youth is to persevere. “Don’t give up on yourself, and don’t give up on God because God is a very jealous God. He can shake your world to get your attention. You must understand how precious your soul is to God,” she said.

And Ms Vilakazi’s advice to women? “Know your worth, think of yourself as the queen you are!” n Edited article from the quarterly Salesian Bulletin.

Female welder Innocentia Vilakazi is an instructor at the Salesians’ Don Bosco Educational Projects in Ennerdale, Johannesburg, which focuses on providing education and skills for young people.

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, October 2 to October 8, 2019

3

J&P takes fight to alcohol-related crime T

BY ERIN CARELSE

HE latest crime statistics released by the South African Police Service show that most crimes are committed between Friday and Monday—and alcohol abuse has been identified as one of the major factors.

Building on work done over the past four years, the Justice & Peace Commission (J&P) of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference is continuing the fight against alcohol-related violence in different parts of the country.

To date, J&P has implemented interventions in the Klerksdorp and Port Elizabeth dioceses. These include working with local municipalities, the Community Police Forum and the SAPS to ensure bylaws are being followed by tavern and shebeen owners, especially in areas such as opening and closing times, and selling of alcohol to minors.

The activists are also working with tavern owners in ensuring that their establishments are safe spaces for patrons. Weekly community dialogues, which speak about responsible drinking, are taking place.

J&P “champions” are also working with the South African Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, a referral partner for individuals who are struggling with alcohol abuse. Awareness-raising initiatives are also being held in parishes.

Fr Stan Muyebe OP, director of J&P, explained that tackling alcohol abuse requires moral renewal.

“Alcohol abuse is in a way a symptom of consumerist society. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis describes consumerism as one of the social ills of our time,” the Dominican said.

“Immersed in the culture of con-

sumerism, our society is increasingly forgetting the four Christian virtues, especially that of temperance, which is having moderation in what we consume like food, alcohol, sex, TV, social media, and clothes,” he said.

To counter the culture of consumerism, Fr Muyebe said, a moral renewal built on strong family values, which emphasises the virtue of moderation is needed. Also, young people need to be educated about the virtue of moderation in schools, catechism classes, and homilies.

“In a consumerist society, happi-

ness is determined by the material goods we possess and consume, as well as by how many virtual friends on social media like us,” he said.

“In a temperance society, happiness is determined by how deep our relationship with God and others is. Moderation is an important element on the path to happiness.

“As Pope Francis said in his message for Laudato Si’: ‘Happiness means knowing how to limit some needs which only diminish us, and being open to the many different possibilities which life can offer,’” said Fr Muyebe.

Nuns release spiritual mandala in call to unity after xenophobic attacks

BY SHEILA PIRES & ERIN CARELSE

A Men of Christ the King parish in Port Shepstone of Umzimkulu diocese, KwaZulu-Natal, protested in the rain against femicide and gender-based violence against women and children. (Photo from Fr Bheki Shabalala CMM)

Church ‘with women on abuse’ Continued from page 1 urging a modification of behaviour by men.

He called on women and girls to be agents of change and to say no to a family rape culture in which the victims of rape by a family member are discouraged from reporting the crime because that would “bring shame to the family”.

The J&P’s Mr Mafinyori also emphasised the need for women and girls to empower themselves with education and skills, and chal-

lenged women to speak with their daughters about the dangers of teenage pregnancy, HIV/Aids and sexually related diseases.

The objective of the conference was to create a safe space for each participant to be able to share and talk freely, without fear or judgment.

Each parish group was tasked with addressing abuse against women and children and drew up a plan to be executed with their parish priests and PPCs, with the help of a J&P coordinator.

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GROUP of Southern African nuns from different congregations has released a graphic mandala—a circular spiritual design—in response to the recent violence, disrespect for human life and xenophobic attacks.

“The mandala is a call for us to go back to the centre, which is Christ himself, and give witness to the Gospel of Peace to promote unity, harmony and dignity among all humankind,” Sr Nkhensani Shibambu CSA, moderator-general of the Congregation of the Companions of St Angela, explained.

A statement titled “We are family!

We are one!” emphasises that “we are all connected to each other and to all of creation, and we call on everyone to promote dignity and unity in whatever way they can”.

The statement continued: “We realise that much of the violence is the fruit of frustration and anger at the unequal distribution of wealth and the greed of those who steal from the majority, and this too is the violence we deplore.”

To facilitate communication, exchange and mutual support, the nuns are gathered in constellations where, in every continent, they in-

Sr Nkhensani Shibambu of the Constellation 6 group of nuns’ congregations which has produced a mandala (left) in response to recent xenophobic attacks. (Photo from Sheila Pires) carnate the aim and mission of the group.

Southern African nuns fall under Constellation 6, congregations whose generalates (or headquarters) are based in Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini or South Africa.

“The true soul of Africa is one of deep respect for life in all its forms.

Jesus Christ as the Prince of Peace is the prototype of this value. Our vowed life as religious is a witness to this peace,” said Sr Shibambu.

Speaking to Radio Veritas, she said the recent spate of violence across South Africa has its roots in the legacy of apartheid.

Sr Shibambu noted that the struggle against apartheid included sometimes violent protests. “We’re a very violent society, people bear too much anger within,” she said.

She suggested another Truth and Reconciliation Commission to deal with the trauma and effects of apartheid.

4

The Southern Cross, October 2 to October 8, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

Nigerian bishops criticise attacks on pope, xenophobia

BY PETER AJAYI DADA

T

HE Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria has condemned recent verbal attacks on Pope Francis as well as xenophobic attacks by South Africans on foreigners.

They condemned both attacks in a statement issued at the end of their second plenary meeting at Divine Mercy Pastoral Centre in Abeokuta.

The bishops expressed their communion with and loyalty to Pope Francis, expressing “serious concern” about “attacks coming from some higher levels of the Church in some parts of the world”. They said they regarded the attacks as the proverbial ill wind that does no one any good.

They said aggrieved Church members and leaders should adopt more traditionally tested avenues to express their opinions to the pope.

“To be able to lead the flock of Christ in the right direction in a world filled with many contradict-

Nigerians evacuated from South Africa after xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals present passports for processing at the airport in Lagos, Nigeria. (Photo: Temilade Adelaja, Reuters/CNS ing and confusing voices, we as a college of bishops must speak with one voice,” the bishops said.

“We reaffirm our faith in and commitment to the pontificate of the Holy Father Pope Francis. Consequently, we pledge our loyalty and availability to him in the exercise of his Petrine office,” the bishops said.

The bishops also denounced

what they called the horrendous xenophobic attacks in South Africa in which many foreigners had lost their lives and had their properties looted. But they also condemned the reprisals on South African investments in some parts of Nigeria, saying two wrongs never make a right.

They praised South African bishops for speaking out against the incidents and said they joined them “in vehemently condemning the attacks”.

The conference advised Nigerians living at home and abroad to be good and law-abiding citizens of their host countries.

More than 500 Nigerians have been repatriated since the latest xenophobic attacks.

Air Peace transported 315 Nigerians to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

Nearly 190 had been returned the previous week.

The Lagos state government gave $55 (R830) to each returnee, with a pledge that they receive job training.—CNS

‘God loves those in the ‘hell’ of addiction’

BY CINDY WOODEN

P

OPE Francis slipped out of the Vatican to spend the day with members of an Italian lay community, the young people in recovery they assist, and tenor Andrea Bocelli.

After listening to three young people’s stories of finding the New Horizons Community and entering recovery, Pope Francis praised them as living witnesses of how God looks with love upon everyone he created.

“I know that gaze, too,” he told the community in Frosinone, about 72km south of Rome. God “made you feel that he loved you, and he took you by the hand from hell—yes, Jesus descended into hell—he took you by the hand and said to each one: ‘Come with me.’”

The freedom God gives each person means there may be success and failure and starting all over again, the pope said. “But he is patient. He has a patient gaze.”

New Horizons Community, a 25-year-old lay movement, focuses on evangelisation and concrete assistance to the disadvantaged. The movement’s headquarters is known as Cittadella Cielo (“Heaven’s Citadel”).

Chiara Amirante, founder of the community, said that the

Pope Francis smiles during a surprise visit to Cittadella Cielo (“Heaven’s Citadel”), the headquarters of the New Horizons Community in Frosinone, Italy. (Photo: Vatican Media/Reuters/CNS) pope’s visit was “an unexpected gift from heaven, and we welcomed him with hearts overflowing with joy”.

She also said Pope Francis had sent over food the day before “because he knows that every day there are 120 mouths to feed”.

Mr Bocelli, a longtime supporter of the community, sang during the pope’s meeting with community members and again at

the midday Mass the pope celebrated there.

In his Mass homily, Pope Francis said he had read the day’s readings before setting off and knew the reading from Ezra about rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem was perfect for the occasion.

“It’s not easy to rebuild,” he said. “It’s more difficult to repair a life than to raise a child. It’s more difficult and not only because of the scars of the past, but also because everyone around is used to the wreckage and some people profit from it.”

“The reconstruction of a life is a grace,” Pope Francis said. “It’s not earned, it’s all grace. But you must defend it with work and with struggle so that the merchants of destruction do not return and make this life a pile of stones.”

The enemies of Jesus “reduced him to ruins on the cross, but his power, the power of God, rebuilt him for us forever”. “And while temptations will continue to come, those who cling to Jesus can be certain of sharing his victory,” the pope said.

“We cannot rebuild our lives, we cannot keep the temple of our lives standing without Jesus, without trust in Jesus,” he said. “He will help us with this.”—CNS

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Sr Rosa Elena Pico, a member of the Missionaries of Mary Co-Redemptrix with children from the indigenous community of Sarayaku, Ecuador. Sr Pico occasionally leads the Liturgy of the Word in the absence of a priest. (Photo: Junno Arocho Esteves/CNS)

Amazonians hope synod looks at lack of priests

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

T

HIS month’s Synod of Bishops for the Amazon will focus on the devastating effects of climate change on the environment and on indigenous communities, but it also will look at ways to meet the spiritual needs of the region’s people.

One of the big challenges in evangelisation and ministry is the lack of missionaries and priests, which some people in the region believe can be resolved by the ordaining of married viri probati, or men of proven virtue.

“The Amazon is a geographically difficult region to evangelise, first because of its distance, its inaccessibility”, Bishop Rafael Cob, apostolic vicar of Puyo, said. But there is also a “lack of candidates who can or want to be priests with the discipline of celibacy. So, logically, the Church is looking for new methods to respond to concrete challenges.”

The synod’s 45-page working document suggested studying “the possibility of priestly ordination for elders—preferably indigenous, respected and accepted by the community—even if they have an established and stable family”.

While Pope Francis has made it clear that he did not agree with allowing “optional celibacy” for priests, he did say he was open to studying the possibility of ordaining married men for very remote locations, where Catholic communities seldom have Mass because there are no priests.

One of those remote locations is the Kichwa indigenous community of Sarayaku, located deep in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon region and accessible only by small

planes or a four-hour canoe ride.

In the absence of a priest, a nun living in the village will lead the community in a liturgy of the word, the pope said.

For 58-year-old Sr Rosa Elena Pico, ordaining married men is not the only solution in an area that is “a challenging place to evangelise”.

Sr Pico, a member of the Missionaries of Mary Co-Redemptrix, and two other Sisters often lead the Liturgy of the Word in the absence of a priest.

While nearly all the area’s inhabitants identify as Catholic, many prefer to keep the Church’s influence on the Sarayaku’s culture at arm’s length, she said.

“Many do not want to commit to what the Church demands,” Sr Pico said.

One example is that out of the 1 400 members of the Sarayaku indigenous community, only six couples have received the sacrament of marriage. Many of the others, she said, believe that people who marry eventually will separate or divorce and would not be able to keep the lifelong bond of sacramental marriage.

Although Sr Pico said she feels welcome in the community, she said she was asked to leave on two occasions for explaining the Church’s teaching on marriage. Nevertheless, she told them she would stay “until the bishop tells me to leave”.

“I believe it is necessary that if there isn’t a priest, there must be a permanent deacon who can administer the sacraments,” she said.

“There should be permanent deacons in the communities,” said Sr Pico.—CNS

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INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, October 2 to October 8, 2019

5

Pope to media: Give witness to truth with your very lives

BY HANNAH BROCKHAUS

W

HEN it comes to spreading the Word of God through media, no investment is too big, according to Pope Francis.

Addressing officials and consultors of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, the pope spoke about communication as a mission of the Church. “No investment is too high for the diffusion of the Word of God,” he said. “At the same time, every ‘talent’ should be well spent, taken advantage of.”

Pope Francis counselled the communicators to have the “signature of testimony” in everything they do.

“If you want to communicate only the truth without goodness and beauty, stop yourselves, do not do it. If you want to communicate a kind of truth, but without involving yourselves, without giving witness to that truth with your very lives, with your very flesh, stop yourselves, do not do it,” the pope said.

He also warned them against falling into an attitude of resignation when confronted by the worldliness of society.

Worldliness is not new to this century, he said. “It was always a danger, it was always a temptation,

Men attend a horse and plough during the National Ploughing Championships in County Carlow, Ireland. More than 250 000 visitors were expected at the annual agriculture show, many of whom participated in evangelisation initiatives. (Photo: PA Media/Reuters/CNS)

Pope Francis gives an address at the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall. (Photo: Daniel Ibanez/CNA) it was always the enemy.”

In this vein, the pope said he has heard people think the Church should close itself off a little, “be a tiny, but authentic Church”.

“That word gives me an allergy,” he stated. “If something is, it is not necessary to say ‘authentic’.”

To think the Church of the future will be a “Church of the elect” is to risk falling into “the heresy of the Essenes”, he said, which is how “Christian authenticity is lost”.

Pope Francis added that “the resignation to cultural defeat comes from the bad spirit, it does

not come from God”.

He said he also is a “little allergic” to when people say something is “truly Christian”.

“We have fallen into the culture of adjectives and adverbs, and we have forgotten the strength of nouns,” he said.

“This is the mission of communication: to communicate the reality, without sweetening it with adjectives or adverbs.”

Just say something is “a Christian thing”, he counselled. It is unnecessary to say something is “authentically Christian”.—CNA

Truth seeker cardinal’s care of the poor

I

N working among the world’s poor for many decades, including in Africa, Canadian Cardinal-designate Michael Czerny was one of several Jesuits who volunteered to replace those murdered in 1989 in San Salvador, El Salvador, during the Central American country’s civil war.

“The most important role for the Church to play now is to accompany the people and to make sure the truth is told,” Cardinal-designate Czerny said in 1991, while he was vice-rector of the University of Central America in San Salvador and director of its human rights institute.

After the announcement that he would be made a cardinal, the 73year-old undersecretary of the Section for Migrants and Refugees at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said: “I thank God and I thank Pope Francis for this new mission, this new service, this great honour.”

Named by Pope Francis as a special secretary for this month’s Synod o f Bishops for the Amazon, Cardinaldesignate Czerny said that the synod will take place at a time when “both human and natural life are suffering serious and perhaps irreversible destruction”.

Jesuit Father Thomas Reese said many people believe Cardinal-designate Czerny was a principal drafter of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home.

Jesuit Father Michael Czerny.

(Photo: Robert Duncan/CNS) Cardinal-designate Czerny was born in what was Czechoslovakia in 1949 and arrived in Montreal when he was two years old.

He graduated from the Jesuit-run Gonzaga University in 1968 with a joint degree in philosophy and literature and earned a doctorate at the Universary of Chicago.

F

r Czerny was ordained in 1973 and, six years later, he founded the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice in an east-end Toronto neighbourhood.

He speaks English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Cardinal-designate Czerny went to San Salvador after the November 1989 murder of six Jesuits.

He left in 1992 to head the secretariat for social justice of the Jesuit curia in Rome.

Ten years later, he became founding director of the African Jesuit

AIDS Network, established by the order’s provincials of Africa. Based in Kangemi, a slum on the outskirts of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, he monitored and coordinated Jesuit work on AIDS already taking place in 30 African countries.

He said the Group of Eight industrialised nations were not living up to their obligations to Africa when it came to fighting Aids or alleviating poverty.

“Aid should be increased. Considering how much money the G-8 make on Africa and the other poorest countries of the world, anything less than 0,7% (of gross national income) is scandalous and shameful,” he told The Catholic Register in 2007.

Cardinal-designate Czerny served as network director until 2009 and, at the same time, taught at Hekima College, a Jesuit school of theology in Nairobi.

In 2010, he was asked by Cardinal Peter Turkson of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace to be his personal assistant.

He served there for six years, until Pope Francis appointed him to his current undersecretary position.

Fr Czerny will be ordained a bishop by Pope Francis the day before the consistory, as canon law requires.—CNS

What’s your favourite prayer?

Irish vote at ploughing festival

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HEN Pope Francis urged clerics to be so close to their flocks that they had the “smell of the sheep”, he might not have had farms in mind.

But visitors to Ireland’s largest annual festival—an agricultural show—were invited to vote for the country’s favourite prayer as part of the Church’s evangelisation initiative.

More than 250 000 visitors were expected at the annual National Ploughing Championships in County Carlow, in the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin.

Bishop Denis Nulty spearheaded the prayer initiative. He said that he believes “it’s so important we as a diocese are present in the middle of Europe’s biggest outdoor event, responding to the call of Pope Francis to be present to people in the midst of their busy and hectic lives”.

He said he had been “overwhelmed by the response to my quest to find Ireland’s favourite prayer”.

Farming communities “are the backbone of many of our rural parishes in Ireland and contribute so much to Church life. I find peo-

ple respond so positively to our presence here”, the bishop said.

The Prayer at the Ploughing is one of several initiatives being taken by diocese at the event. The theme of the Church presence at this year’s festival is “Digging Deeper: Rooting for Christ”, a continuation of Bishop Nulty’s campaign exploring new ways for people to understand their faith.

Visitors to the booth were invited to spend time in prayer and to also enjoy entertainment from soloists and choirs.

Farmers and gardeners were given blessed salt for their soil, and young people were presented with colourful wristbands. Organisers also offered a cup of tea.

As well as searching for Ireland’s favourite prayer, Bishop Nulty has invited people to compose a new prayer focusing on care for the environment.

“Our visitors always appreciate gifts of blessed salt and wristbands, and our various wall displays. Despite so much activity at our stand, many people value a little quiet time, too, in prayer,” the bishop said.—CNS

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6

The Southern Cross, October 2 to October 8, 2019

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

The outlawing of spanking

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HE ruling by the Constitutional Court to outlaw all forms of corporal punishment of children by parents has inevitably divided public opinion.

In its decision to uphold a High Court judgment, the Constitutional Court through Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng argued that any exemption to laws that prohibit corporal punishment could be used to legally justify excessive violence against children.

The interpretation of what constitutes moderate and reasonable chastisement, the reasoning appears to be, is too subjective to be applied in the prosecution of evident assault.

Spanking, Justice Mogoeng said, is inconsistent with the Constitution, which guarantees freedom from all forms of violence from public or private sources.

Whatever the law says, however, many South Africans will argue that the administration of a spanking is a valid option in correcting a child’s conduct. And they might justify that by referring to one line in the Old Testament: Proverbs 13:24 But the verse—“Whoever fails to use the stick hates his child; whoever is free with correction loves him”—is not a divine command. At best, it’s wise counsel.

Some Scripture scholars suggest that the verse doesn’t advocate physical force but the inculcation of discipline (which, in itself, does not preclude the use of force). In that reading, the stick or rod serves as a metaphor for the staff used by shepherds to guide their sheep.

There is an objection that the state has no business telling parents how to raise children, that the law is an intrusion into the private sphere.

Some parents may feel powerless in confronting misbehaving children without resorting to corporal punishment, or at least the threat of it.

Without the threat of a spanking, they fear, children who know their rights will feel entitled to misbehave with impunity. Criminalising it might even give rise to certain forms of manipulation, especially in cases of domestic conflict.

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hese concerns have some merit, even in an age when great numbers of parents prefer to raise their children without recourse to beating them.

To reasonable minds, the thought that parents might be charged with assault should they use a flat hand on their child’s bottom seems preposterous.

So the law must be applied sensibly, in such a way that a mother who in a moment of stress hits her toddler’s

clothed backside does not risk legal repercussions.

The law’s purpose must be to protect children from abusive parents or guardians who dispense beatings harshly and regularly.

In that light especially, the law’s intent to protect such brutalised children must be welcomed.

Indeed, the rights of physically abused children—of whom there are many, especially in our brutalised society—must precede the parental right to administer corporal punishment.

Parents who frequently beat their children, especially in ways that cause physical injury, must be deterred from doing so by the law, and be held legally accountable.

Safeguarding children from parental abuse is a matter of human rights. Adults insist on their right not to be beaten as a method of enforcing discipline, for example at the workplace. Why should children not be protected by the same right?

P

rotecting children from beatings also serves society if it helps to break the cycles of brutalisation which form the continual patterns of aggression and violence in South Africa.

Violence breeds violence. While it does not follow that children who were beaten will invariably grow up to be violent themselves, it is evident that people who were not subjected to regular beatings are likely to seek non-violent means of resolving disputes.

And it isn’t only parental violence that calls for our concern. The law excludes non-violent forms of parental cruelty and humiliation—some of which have devastating effects on children—but which are impossible to prove.

Legislation governing domestic conduct is notoriously difficult to enforce. To illustrate: spousal abuse is illegal in South Africa, yet wives are still being assaulted by their husbands in great numbers.

Ideally, the anti-spanking law will serve not only as a deterrent to cruel parents but, more so, also as a framework for effecting a modification of behaviour in society.

A necessary component of the law would be public education which advocates for alternative means of dispensing corrective discipline: verbal persuasion, non-violent forms of correction (such as withdrawal of privileges) and positive reinforcement.

In this, we can look to the wise counsel of Proverbs: “Give a lad a training suitable to his character and, even when old, he will not go back on it” (22:6).

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

No to violence: We are all migrants on Earth W HAT has happened to Madiba’s “Never again”?

From afar in Nairobi, I have listened to reports and seen images which make me want to cry.

Some of the barbaric mob attacks on targeted “foreigners”— filmed through a multitude of phone-wielding spectators and posted online for all to see—are as heartbreaking as anything from the necklacing in the 1980s or the machete hackings in 1994 Rwanda (even though some postings and footage are fake or misapplied to present-day

‘Judgmental’ means what?

M

ICHAEL Shackleton in his “Open Door” column (August 28) equates the Holy Father with the actions of the pastoral care group for gay Catholics and their families in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, who he says “are demonstrating the non-judgmental love of the Church, the Body of Christ, for her own members”.

What does “non-judgmental love” mean? I have this for my children, my husband, my family, but does it mean that by correcting them when they err that I’m being judgmental?

True love requires sacrifice; true love desires what is good, true and beautiful for the other—note, not what feels good, true and beautiful.

Let’s correct the distinction between what feels like love to what is truly loving when we talk about “caring for others” and being “non-judgmental”.

Jesus was non-judgmentally loving to the Samaritan woman, but he also lovingly told her to “sin no more”.

Today, if this approach is taken, labels such as bigot, judgmental, uncaring, unloving etc become the (judgmental?) responses of those who are “lovingly being cared for”.

The pope also calls for greater pastoral care for Catholics, so I have to ask how pastorally sound it is when it seems in most part the “care” often omits a fundamental part of Catholic teaching “that sex belongs properly within the sacrament of matrimony only”.

Correct, who are we to judge anybody on their sexual inclinations, but immoral sexual acts should, out of love, be judged, especially at a pastoral level (this goes for all immoral sexual behaviour of both same-sex attraction people as well as heterosexual people, by the way).

If immoral sexual acts are not an issue, pastoral care then is about walking with the person with same-sex attraction, giving them the strength and continued desire to be inspired by the Gospel’s call to holiness and the Church’s beautiful teaching on the goodness and inherent teaching of human sexuality, which is what we are all called to.

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

This is truly a heavy cross to bear, especially in light of the worldview of active homosexual lifestyles but with Christ (and with good guidance) all things are possible.

Theresa (Surname withheld), Johannesburg

“xenophobia” in South Africa).

How can we not respect each other in Johannesburg or anywhere else in the beloved country? We are all somewhat foreigners!

Let the criminals be dealt with through the law courts, but burning and stoning in the streets (besides looting) is not worthy of human beings.

And now retaliation on South African interests is threatened in many parts of the continent— can we blame them?

I suppose it is inevitable that

if life is not respected when it is still in the womb, then it will not be respected outside the womb. How can abortion adverts be seen on every lamppost as the most advertised “service” and not lead to the devaluing of human life?

The fundamental destruction of Ubuntu begins right there.

I’m writing as a child of migrants to South Africa in 1950 who continues to be a migrant on planet Earth…

Fr Francis Dufour SDB, Nairobi, Kenya

T

conscience and religious beliefs?

How do we square this prohibition with the right of a Muslim retail outlet to refuse to sell liquor, based on religious belief?

Henry Sylvester, Cape Town

Pro-life doctor true professional

HE intended disciplinary actions by the Health Professions Council (HPCSA) against Dr Jacques de Vos have nothing to do with the preservation of human health, but everything to do with the disordered “freedom of choice” to end the life of the innocent unborn child.

Medical practitioners are bound by the Hippocratic Oath to “first, do no harm”, and thus must endeavour to extend and preserve life for both mother and child.

Professionalism and murderousness are contingent and not exclusive actions, ergo, it is absurd to argue that Dr De Vos was unprofessional and disrespected the patient’s choice by presenting options to preserve human life as well as assuring the psychological wellbeing of a patient.

Furthermore, health professionals are duty-bound to warn patients of the effects and dangers of chemical contraception, such as ovarian and breast cancer and heart attacks.

Empirical evidence now confirms that women who have had abortions suffer from post-abortion stress syndrome, which can lead to depression and suicide.

This necessitates that these matters are discussed.

Pregnancy is not a disease nor a disorder, nor the growth of a foreign substance in the womb, but the natural development of a human person that has its genesis in the conjugal act between a man and a woman.

Abortion is not a legal term and is certainly not explicitly enshrined as a right in the Constitution. “Reproductive rights” is falsely appealed to as an oxymoron to justify the killing of the unborn and approval of chemical contraception, whereas the logical understanding of the term is the affirmation of the right to procreation.

To numb the moral conscience, the foetus (the small one) is justified in being aborted as if the woman is merely passing a stool, whereas the little one is crushed to death inside the womb, or the woman is fed a chemical concoction to flush out the child. These acts have nothing to do with “health” and wellness: they are a rejection of the unborn’s right to life.

By fingering Dr De Vos’ religious moral beliefs as the culprit, the HPCSA presents a vacuous argument that is devoid of a moral compass to know the difference between the common good and evil on the matter of abortion.

What about Dr De Vos’ freedom of choice to open a practice that is in line with his moral Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy.

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

Laity dismissed

‘P

AY up, pray up, shut up.’

This classic statement—referred to in the Catholic Link regarding the clergy and laity—belongs in the movies.

We, the laity, are the Church.

Many of us at one time or another have been verbally abused by parish priests, some from a foreign land, half our age.

Wisdom and knowledge are two different things, similarly imagination and education are different.

When you write to a bishop about incidents in the Church, you get one line: “The bishop is at a conference, he will be back tomorrow.”

Tomorrow never comes.

Peter Hendricks, Cape Town

Bl Newman and personal ties

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OUR article on the canonisation of Bl John Henry Newman (July 24) brought back happy memories of my old home Aston Hall in Staffordshire, England, which was the home of Bl Dominic Barbieri.

Bl Barbieri, an Italian member of the Order of Passionists, when living at Aston Hall was instrumental in providing the entry of Newman into the Church.

At the time Bl Barbieri was provincial resident at Aston when summoned to Littlemore near Oxford where Bl Newman, leader of the influential and controversial Oxford Movement, lived with fellow members.

He set off on October 9, 1845, in a terrible storm in a covered coach and endured five hours of driving rain, arriving exhausted.

Without delay Bl Barbieri entered the building and within minutes Newman was humbly at his feet, telling him he would not move until Bl Barbieri blessed him and received him into the Church of Jesus Christ.

This is the authentic story.

The cause for the canonisation of Bl Barbieri is also in process, on the same day in October, the 13th. Double is my joy as it falls on the feast day of Edward the Confessor.

Aston Hall is now the retirement home for priests of Birmingham archdiocese, having been bought and endowed by the late Cyril Hartly, an uncle.

There is a booklet on Aston Hall written by Canon Drinkwater, which is available should any readers be interested.

Also, there will be a number of readers who have attended Mass at Brompton Oratory in Kensington, London, which was founded by Bl Newman and run by the Oratian Fathers.

Edward Wenger, Henley-on-Klip, Gauteng

PERSPECTIVES

Why the Church is losing the youth Nthabiseng T Maphisa HE youth of today are a much-discussed topic in our world. They are closely studied and many who are not youth have arrived at multiple conclusions as to the lives of the youth: what they wear, where they work, whom they date, and what religion they associate with.

From the perspective of someone who is considered young—I turned 25 in September—I can see that there is much panic among the clergy and the laity about the future of the Church, which resides in its young people. I would like to use this opportunity to tell you what it feels like to be a part of the next generation.

I was baptised when I was three and went to school with children of different cultures and religions. There were Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Methodists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, agnostics and atheists. I knew early on that not everyone had a crucifix hanging in their home or went to church on Christmas Day. Some didn’t even celebrate their birthdays. There was Ramadan, Eid, Diwali and Passover.

It was difficult back then to understand Christianity, and even more difficult to understand why I worshipped God when others worshipped goddesses. We were a “mixed bag” generation. We were black, white, coloured, Indian, Catholic, Anglican, and everything in between.

All along I remained in my Catholic bubble, content to see the world through eyes of the Church.

With the desire to see me confirmed, my mother sent me to a Catholic high school. I had heard many rumours of the “horrors” that happen in Catholic schools. I imagined being forced into a dark, haunting church for Mass and being made to read a thick, heavy bible by

ghoulish, haggard nuns.

To my relief, none of this happened— but there were other things still to fear.

Behind the plush lawns and tennis courts, there were the cliques which are all too common in girls’ schools. There was smoking and gossiping against the backdrop of Catholicism. The latter was a strange hum in the air often ignored by many students and teachers.

It all became a checklist comprising First Friday Masses and classroom prayers.

It was cold and uninviting.

L

ike most teenagers, I had many questions about life, God and the world around me. Perhaps out of laziness or ignorance, I know not which, I often received an answer in a “because I said so” style.

This manner of “catechising” the youth—prompting them to open their mouths and swallow the Gospel whole— has been and will be the fall of Catholic schools and youth catechesis in parishes.

The Church is losing the youth when it forces young people to believe its teachings without engaging them, argues Nthabiseng Maphisa.

Pop Culture Catholic

It was only when I had encountered knowledgeable and relatable Catholics who were open to intellectual debate that I began to understand my faith.

So often the greatest dissenters become the greatest defenders, and I was no different.

I was fortunate in my journey to have come across individuals who were grounded in their faith and not easily swayed by my many doubts. They loved me enough to challenge me and sometimes to humble me.

But I fear that we remain in a Church that is distant from the youth and continues to rely on its authoritarian voice to pass on the faith, as if to say to the many teenagers and young adults in schools and parishes: “Believe, or else…”

It’s no surprise then that they disappear after confirmation or when they leave their Catholic school.

It is unfortunate to say that to be young and Catholic is a difficult and confusing journey. We are considered too holy for our “worldly” counterparts but too rebellious and immature to be taken seriously by clerics.

As a result, we are relegated to our part of the church, to play in our kiddies corner and to sometimes irrelevant catechetical programmes.

It is my hope that the outcome of the archdiocesan synod in Johannesburg will begin the change that.

If not, we will have to return to life with its many stations and wait for the next generation.

Sometimes we need to hit pause Chris O McDonnell FTEN, when I was preparing young children to read at assembly in school, I would use the phrase “remember the space between words”.

To make any sense of the written word put into speech, the pauses can be as informative as the words themselves. They lend importance and significance to the idea being put across, they are an essential structural part of the story.

This is true for any spoken presentation, but especially so when a community comes together to celebrate the Eucharist.

The words we share will be appreciated when spoken in the context of a measured, inclusive tone with clear enunciation, rather than rushed and mumbled.

Often we rush speech when we are nervous, not used to speaking in public.

Using microphones at assembly enabled children to concentrate on clear articulation, whatever their age.

There are many occasions when pausing is of benefit, when thinking before acting is the better part.

In many games of skill, the time of reflection increases the chance of success, be it planning a move during a game of chess, or the pause before a ball is put into the scrum during a game of rugby. The pause in the action heightens the impact when the action takes place.

The word “retreat” is a familiar part of the Catholic lexicon, whether it refers to a group activity, a parish event or time away alone. It’s a time of taking stock, of where we are and who we might become.

It is usually led by someone we don’t know, whose voice is unfamiliar, and whose fund of stories is new to us.

This “time away” is shared by many faiths and manifests itself in different

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Point of Church

Sometimes we just need to pause and reflect a little, writes Chris McDonnell. ways. There are common threads. There is quiet time, when unnecessary conversations are put to one side. There is an emphasis on prayer within the context of the particular tradition.

To help with our focus, wooden beads are fingered, hands held together, or opened with upturned palms. The position we assume might involve kneeling or sitting, standing or bowing, or walking.

The ultimate goal is the same, a heightened awareness of relationships with each other and with God. Understanding where we are is helped by sharing ourselves with others.

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ime alone is time without a hiding place, facing a wall without the company of others with whom we might converse, with whom we feel secure. It is a time of risk, when we admit to questions that we have been hiding from, circumstances we would prefer not to face.

It is through such a time of reflection that the blank wall becomes a mirror and we face, sometimes for the first time in many years, ourselves staring back. That

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might not be a comfortable experience, it might demand we consider change that will be difficult to manage.

Monastic life for a small number of people offers a more radical pause, a dedicated community living by groups of women or men who have deliberately chosen a way of life that recognisably sets them apart.

A Cistercian nun, Sr Sheryl Chen, writing in her book Prayer is My Business, wrote: “I entered the Cistercian Monastery because I wanted a life of prayer. I got God instead. I have come to understand a life of prayer as finding God in each moment of the day, not just the times when we are in church.”

When we had tape recorders, there were two buttons in the rack of five—one said “pause”, the other “rewind”. Sometimes both options are of help to us.

We can be surprised by a pause in the headlong rush so many of us experience.

We live in a swirling pool of continual activity, where one thing follows another without a space to breathe between. We rush and we do, we talk, work and shop, collect children, make meals and finally drop into bed exhausted.

Maybe we should pause and just be for a few moments of reflective calm each hectic day. n This article was first published in the Catholic Times.

The Southern Cross, October 2 to October 8, 2019

7

Fr Pierre Goldie

Christ in the World

Where is God in business?

D

ESPITE Yahweh’s admonitions on the consequences of Israel wanting a monarch, he allows them to anoint Saul as king (1 Samuel 8:10-22).

Young women were required to work in the palace (as perfumers, cooks and so on) and young men were forced to be part of the army as there was compulsory conscription.

Citizens were forced to farm produce required by the royalty. The king took the best of the fields, vineyards and olive groves for his officials. The construction of a luxury palace followed. Eventually taxes were imposed.

Not everyone coped with the new system and some went deep into debt. They had to sell their ancestral homes and sometimes were forced to sell themselves into slavery. As opposed to the old system of tribes, where relationships were more equal, a poor class resulted and the rich were often well-established through their financial privileges.

The conclusion of prophets such as Amos was that there was a new type of Egypt, a new economic and social oppression—and this time it was their own people of Israel, the rich and powerful, who were the oppressors, through the new socio-political and economic system that evolved.

There is much to compare with the current state of affairs in the world: persistent poverty, financial oppression, entrenched cycles of poverty, and a bloated government administration.

Julius Malema’s “economic freedom” mantra, concisely summarises the situation of dire need in South Africa, although his proposed methods (such as printing money) would be destructive of the economy.

We saw how massive printing of money in Zimbabwe reduced all the pension funds, insurance funds, medical funds, savings, bank accounts to virtually zero in terms of purchasing power because of the hyper-inflation and currency collapse.

B

ut the business sector can also contribute to oppression. Amos cuttingly refers to business which manipulates scales, takes advantage of the poor in many ways, and loathes holy days which affect business profits.

His words are quite chilling: “Never will I forget anything they have done” (Amos 8:7).

We think of examples such as major local producers of bread who have been fined millions of rands by the Competition Board for fixing the bread prices. The weights of various products are often reduced, and their price is kept the same, a subtle way of increasing prices. There seems little difference between today and Amos’ times.

Methods of cheating, both by companies and employees, have just become more sophisticated.

Bribery is endemic in business and the children of the world are inventive in manipulation in order to swindle money.

Luke praises the “sons of this world” for their ingenious methods and Jesus wished that the children of light were as creative in tackling issues as the children of this world are in cheating (16:113).

Psalm 127:1 reads that if Yahweh does not build, in vain do its builders labour. If God is not part of the economic system, it will fail to provide for all people. The absence of the Spirit of God in the international economic system is evident.

For many, life is a daily struggle, while others, as in Amos 6, loll on ivory beds, sprawl on couches, drink wine by the bowl-full, apparently oblivious of the poverty around them.

We need wisdom from God to provide fundamental solutions to problems such as poverty, equity, a sustainable ecology.

Let the young in particular, animated by the Spirit of God, study the ways of meeting the challenges that exist, and build systems and products which ensure dignified living standards and a healthy ecology.

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8

The Southern Cross, October 2 to October 88, 2019

COMMUNITY The primary and high schools of Holy Family College in Glenmore, Durban, supported Sunflower Day, wearing special scarves and writing messages on the Wall of Hope to remember family and friends who have passed on from cancer and celebrate those who are survivors of cancer.

St Peter Claver parish in Pimville, Soweto, celebrated Sunday Mass with Oblate Fathers Cleber Lopes, novice master from Brazil, and Rodney George, novice master South Africa, with the main celebrant being parish priest Fr Tom Segami OMI. (Photo: Sello Mokoka)

Male students of Sacred Heart College in Observatory, Johannesburg, stood in solidarity with female students in support of the #WithoutUs movement which protested against violence against women. The boys held silent protests outside the school, and engaged in workshops around gender-based violence and how to become better young men.

Members of St Margaret’s church in Diepkloof, Soweto, spent a day with the disabled at Takalani Home.

Parishioner Joseph Tladi is seen with residents.

Send your photos to Don Bosco Delft Skills Training Centre, run by the Salesian Sisters in Cape Town, celebrated its second graduation ceremony of 2019 with graduates in life skills, catering and food preparation, and computer literacy and reception.

Marist Brothers Linmeyer in Johannesburg held a special Mass to commemorate the school’s Name Day. Grade 1 student Keorapetse Letwaba is seen at the celebratory picnic after Mass.

pics@ scross.co.za

The Bible study class at Mater Dei Pastoral Centre near Mokopane in Polokwane diocese prayed for an end to the spate of violence against women and children as well as foreign nationals. Members of the class are seen above with Fr Sunny Vattapparayil SVD. (Submitted by Mashadi Mathosa)

Fr Michael Nadaraju and parishioners of the church of the Immaculate Conception in Pinetown, Durban archdiocese, enjoyed fellowship at the meal which precedes the weekly songs of praise, video clip and discussion during the Alpha course. (Submitted by Tamaryn van Wyk)

Emma Askew and Isabella Goncalves, both Grade 11s at St Henry’s Marist College in Glenwood, Durban, were confirmed at Holy Trinity parish by Archbishop Abel Gabuza. Seen at the occasion are (from left) school chaplain Fr Sean Mullin, principal Dr Stephen Leech, Emma Askew, Isabella Goncalves, Archbishop Gabuza, and parish priest Fr Francis Cibane.

Greater Knysna Catholics welcomed Fr Steven Scheepers as their new parish priest after he celebrated Mass at St Anthony’s church in Sedgefield. Members of all four Knysna Catholic communities are seen with Fr Scheepers at tea after the Mass.

(Submitted by Bobbi Morgan-Smith) Contact us: Tel 041 373-0039 / Mobile 074 376-5833 / Email retreat@catholic-pe.co.za

MISSION

The Southern Cross, October 2 to October 8, 2019

9

Mission in the middle of nowhere On October 6 the threeweek Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region will begin. BARBARA FRASER looks at the challenges of missionaries working in a lawless region so remote that it takes five days by boat to get there.

T

HE parish where Sr Maria Emilia Molenda Kuche works stretches along the banks of the Amazon River and far up the Yavari River, an area sparsely populated by Tikuna, Yagua and Kukama Indians.

A girl looks at a fisherman carrying his catch in Islandia, a town in the PeIt takes about eight hours to ruvian Amazon. Inset: Paulo “Kenampa” Marubo of the Union of Indigereach the village closest to the parish team’s headquarters in this nous Peoples of the Javari Valley in Brazil, who fights for the preservation riverside town. The most distant is of traditional lifestyles in remote regions. (All Photos: Paul Jeffrey) five days’ travel upriver.

To continue their education, The document calls for joint When the parish team visits, members never know what they pastoral work focusing on border- young people travel by boat—a will find, said Sr Kuche, 73, a mem- lands and a Church structure that journey of several weeks from the ber of the Brazilian religious con- will help parish teams address the most distant communities—to Atalaia do Norte. gregation Missionaries of Christ problems.

There they step into another Crucified. Sometimes more people An unfamiliar world universe, where there is a sharp dithan expected show up; sometimes In the Amazon region, geo- vide between indigenous and nonthere is no one.

“We plan something, and that graphic boundaries are often ac- indigenous residents, said Marta may not be what happens at all. companied by invisible borders Barral, 45, a Xaverian lay missionYou have to be prepared for all within countries. For indigenous ary from Madrid, Spain, who has these things,” she said. “This work, youths, moving from rural vil- worked in Atalaia do Norte for the lages—which often lack basic serv- past two years. this mission, is very difficult.”

“They are parallel worlds,” she The triple border shared by Peru, ices such as electricity—to the Brazil and Colombia along the nearest town or city means crossing said.

The indigenous students must Amazon River is a remote and law- into an unfamiliar world.

One such frontier is Atalaia do sit in a classroom and do their lesless area that challenges Norte, a Brazilian town sons in Portuguese, a language they the Catholic missionaries about 15 000 people do not speak well, said Ms Barral, who work among its small ‘In the city, of upstream from Islandia who offers tutoring sessions as part towns and indigenous vilin Peru on the Yavari of her missionary work. lages. you have River.

Those with relatives in town at Drug traffickers transThe trip takes about least have a place to live, but others port cocaine downriver. markets. For an hour by car, if the must rent rooms, which means Unscrupulous loggers lure us, the lake unpaved road has not finding jobs in their first foray into workers from distant towns been washed out in a a cash economy. The only work with the promise of jobs is our rainstorm, or a day or available is domestic labour for girls and then fail to pay them, more by boat along the or manual labour for boys, Ms Barleaving them stranded far market’ looping waterway. ral said. from home. Outsiders who Atalaia do Norte “They are studying so they can arrive in indigenous villages offer to take children to town marks the threshold between return to their communities, but in for an education, then force them Brazil’s Javari Valley indigenous ter- fact [most] do not return,” she said. ritory, a huge swath of forest acces- “They say life is better there, but into prostitution.

Government health posts are sible only by river, and the city they make their lives here.”

Young people get used to having scarce and often lack crucial medi- with their cars, hospitals and cash electricity and running water, she cines, and schools are poorly economy.

The indigenous territory is in- said. And most villages have no equipped. Teachers must travel by boat to a town upriver to receive habited by members of half a dozen paid jobs other than the village their pay and may be gone for days indigenous groups who live in vil- teacher or nurse technician. lages along riverbanks, as well as a Some young people drop out of at a time.

Those problems and others number of seminomadic groups school and go home or move to make borders a key focus for the which continue to shun contact larger cities in search of employCatholic Church, and one that with the outside world.

“We depend on the rivers, lakes bishops are likely to examine at this month’s Synod of Bishops for the and forest that were created for us,” said Paulo Marubo, coordinator of Amazon.

Borderlands are places where the Union of Indigenous Peoples of isiZulu “conflicts and violence are aggra- the Javari Valley. “In the city, you vated, where the law is not re- have markets. For us, the lake is our spected and corruption undermines market.”

Parents support their families by government control, clearing the way for indiscriminate exploitation farming small plots of land carved by many enterprises”, according to out of the forest and by hunting the working document for the and fishing, said Mr Marubo, who prefers to use his traditional name, synod.

“For all these reasons, work is Kenampa.

Most of the villages lack public needed to help see the Amazon as a home for all, which deserves to be services like electricity. Village cared for by all,” according to the schools offer classes only up to document, which is based on dis- Grade 5, with lessons in the chilcussions held in dozens of places dren’s native language and a special around the Amazon River basin curriculum that involves many activities outside of the classroom. during the second half of 2018.

ment, while others run afoul of laws they never knew existed.

Ms Barral tells of two Matis men who bought two bottles of cooking gas. The bottles had been stolen, and the men were caught and charged with receiving stolen property.

In late March, a 14-year-old boy from a distant village was jailed for drug trafficking after showing off the money, equivalent to about R150, that someone had paid him to deliver a small package.

Downhill from Atalaia do Norte’s main plaza, narrow wooden boats with palm-thatch roofs bob beside the tree-lined riverbank.

When villagers come to town—because a relative is sick, or to collect government cash subsidies for mothers and retirees—they live on the boats while they wait.

Old values are getting lost Those cash subsidies worry Clovis Marubo, 53, a longtime leader who worked with the Catholic Church’s Indigenous Missionary Council in the 1980s to survey and fight for designation of the Javari Valley indigenous territory.

When the cash economy reaches indigenous villages, it is often accompanied by alcoholism, drugs, prostitution of children and adolescents, and sexually transmitted illnesses, he said.

Life is changing, and the boundary between traditional life and the urban world is blurring.

“People are losing their languages, their way of telling their stories,” he said. “They no longer

value their traditional ways of healing, with plants and shamans. That is especially true of young people.”

He would like to see indigenous education centres established, where elders could teach young people traditional practices, such as ceramics and healing rituals.

“If leaders don’t foster this kind of discussion, it will be difficult to keep young people in the communities,” he said. “If we don’t make an option for them, what will happen to them in the future?”

When bishops meet at the Vatican this month for the synod, Kenampa hopes they will listen closely to the problems facing indigenous people in Brazil.

President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office in January, has said that the country’s Indians should be assimilated into the wider society and has threatened cutbacks in indigenous health care, education and protection for indigenous territories.

“I want to tell the bishops and the pope that we exist,” Kenampa said. “We have a life and a history that is sacred. The pope’s God, our God, is the God of all. We keep our traditions, our cosmology, our knowledge of the world that was created by our God.” He said he hopes the Church will “help us maintain our territory, the life of our isolated peoples, the animals so they don’t become extinct”.

“We ask authorities, the Church, the entire world, to help us, to pray for us, so that the life of indigenous people will continue.”—CNS

A woman walks along a raised walkway in Islandia.

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10

The Southern Cross, October 2 to October 8, 2019

SAINTHOOD

Even Hindus love this new saint When Pope Francis canonises a group of saints on October 13, an Indian nun will be among them. ANTO AKKARA explains why Indians have a devotion to Bl Mariam Thresia.

E

VEN Hindus are eagerly looking forward to the canonisation in the Vatican of an Indian nun.

Bl Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan, who died in 1926, will be canonised alongside other saints, including England’s Bl John Henry Newman, by Pope Francis on October 13.

The founder of the Holy Family Congregation (CHF) of nuns in southern Kerala state was beatified

by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

On Bl Thresia’s feast day on June 8, many Hindus come to her tomb in the village Kuzhikkattussery, about 30km south of the city of Thrissur.

This year hundreds of Hindus were among more than 30 000 devotees who thronged the tomb of the nun popularly called Mother Mariam Thresia.

“Mother is not an ordinary Christian for us. She is an icon of love and charity. All of us respect her,” said Advocate P K Mohanan, a Hindu and councillor of Kuzhikkattussery.

“I prayed at her tomb. It is a tradition for many Hindus here to pray at her tomb,” said Mr Mohanan, a communist.

Devotees, including Hindus, come in great numbers to the tomb of Mother Mariam Thresia on her feast on June 8. (Photo: Anko Akkara)

Bl Mariam Thresia, who lived from 1876 to 1926, is said to have had miraculous healing powers, founded a religious congregation, and was a social activist for the upliftment of women. She will be canonised by Pope Francis in the Vatican on October 13.

“Mother served all, irrespective of caste or creed. We take pride in her because with her canonisation, the whole world will know about our village,” Mr Mohanan said.

Bishop Pauly Kannookadan of Irinjalakuda diocese, which includes Kuzhikkattussary, called Bl Mariam an “angel of mercy and charity”.

“Mother went out to serve the needy,” the bishop said. She cared for victims of the dreaded smallpox, a fast-spreading airborne disease.

Bishop Kannookadan noted that she would prevent the burial of people who were still alive and nurture them back to health.

Mother Mariam Thresia was also a social activist ahead of her time.

“At a time when women were not to step out of the homes, Mother fought for women's liberation, and against superstition,” the bishop said.

“She opened schools for the education of the girls—challenging,” he added.

An independent woman Born on April 26, 1876, as the third of the five children of Thanda and Thoma of the Chiramel Mankidiyan family at Puthenchira, 2km from Kuzhikkattussery, Thresia was always deeply devout and prayerful.

Thresia resisted her well-off parents’ attempts to marry her off at

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the age of 10, as per the prevailing wood was delivered to them from tradition. Instead of marriage, she forests 150km away. led a life of prayer and austerity, A century later, Latha Lipin, a despite belonging to a wealthy Hindu, became a witness to the farming family, and even slept on miraculous powers of Blessed gravel on the ground instead of in Mariam Thresia. a bed.

“I have been coming to “I cannot sleep comfortably on a Kuzhikkattussery regularly since bed when Jesus is hanging on the 2001 to pray as Mother takes care cross on three nails,” Mother of my problems,” said Ms Lipin, Mariam Thresia is heard telling her her face beaming. mother in the hour-long A year after her weddocumentary of the story ding in 2011, Ms Lipin ‘Mother had of her life, Blessed Mariam came to the shrine to Thresia: The Patroness of miraculous pray earnestly for a Families, brought out by powers and child. her congregation.

“Soon I was pregnant.

The documentary deLater doctors told me I healed many, picts the founder’s conhad medical complicacern that the family including the tions and would have to ministry should share the Caesarean surcompassionate love of Hindu king’ undergo gery. I came and prayed Christ and care for the at the tomb—and had poor, sick and the dying.

The film presents some of her normal delivery,” Ms Lipin reamazing actions, as recorded by Fa- called as her child and husband ther Joseph Vithayathil, her spiri- stood beside her.

“I have been sharing my testitual director and co-founder of the Holy Family Congregation, who mony with many childless Hindu couples. They have come here to was declared Venerable in 2015.

The name Mariam was added to pray and have been blessed with her given name, Thresia, after she babies,” Ms Lipin said proudly. reported an apparition of Blessed Miracle by relic Virgin Mary on December 8, Cicily Choondal was choking 1904—the feast of the Immaculate back tears as she narrated the Conception.

While under the spiritual care of miraculous healing of her infant Fr Vithayathil, Thresia experienced grandson Christopher. stigmata in 1909, as well as diabolic It was his healing which was apseizures. proved by the Vatican as miracuIn 1913, Thresia moved to the lous, clearing the way for Mariam “House of Solitude”, built in her Thresia’s canonisation. native Puthenchira village under “As soon as Christopher was the direction of the bishop, with born [on April 7, 2009], he was put three of her friends moving with on oxygen in the intensive unit. her.

The doctors told us that my grandA year later, Thresia received the son would not survive,” Ms canonical permission to launch the Choondal recalled. congregation named after the Holy “I was asked to prepare the Family. house for the funeral. I went home “Mother had miraculous powers in tears.” She then brought a relic and healed many, including the of Bl Mariam Thresia from her [Hindu] king,” said Sr Udaya Punhouse and told hospital staff to neliparambil, the superior-general of the congregation, which today touch the baby with it.

“Shortly after, the Hindu doctor has 1 970 members. came out and declared that as soon as the ‘sacred object’ was put on Healing of a king After a Catholic family donated the infant, his condition has sudeight acres of land to launch a con- denly improved,”Ms Choondal vent, Thresia took an adventurous said.

“Now Christopher is healthy journey to the city of Kochi—50km away—to meet Hindu King Rama like any child and is attending Varma in 1918, seeking help to school,” said the grandmother, who had been reciting the novena complete the convent building.

When the courtesans refused to of Mariam Theresa for years daily let her meet the king because he after the evening family rosary. was ill with a serious abscess, the “This is a holy year for us,” said nun made a potion of plants and Fr Sebastian Panjikaran of the asked his mandarins to apply it.

Puthenchira Forane church.

The king was soon healed and In a tribute to the new saint, sent word to bring the nun back. parishioners have been building He ensured that high-quality teak houses for the poor, he said.

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The Southern Cross, October 2 to October 8, 2019

YOUR CLASSIFIEDS

11

Anniversaries • Milestones • Prayers • Accommodation • Holiday accommodation Personal • Services • Employment • Property • Parish notices • Thanks • Others Please include payment (R1,90 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

IN MEMORIAM

MATTHEE—Merlyn. Our beloved Mother who passed on October 5, 2010. Still sadly missed by her children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.

PERSONAL

Pope Francis leads an audience with participants of an international meeting of schools, movements and associations of the new evangelisation at the Vatican.

The pope said the Church should be more concerned with welcoming those who are far from it rather than defending the Church’s good name. (Photo: Vatican Media/CNS)

‘Church must proclaim Christ, and not itself’

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

T

HE Catholic Church must not become a distant memory for men and women today but must be a welcoming place where everyone feels at home, Pope Francis said.

Too often, people judge the Church to be either irrelevant in today’s world or perceive it as “too powerful in comparison with the great poverties of the world”, the pope said.

“I would say that it is right to be concerned, but above all to be mindful if one perceives a worldly Church, that is, one that follows the criteria of success of the world and forgets that it does not exist to proclaim itself, but rather Jesus,” he said.

Pope Francis made his comments to 300 people participating in an international meeting of schools, movements and associations involved in the new evangelisation. The Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation sponsored the meeting.

Reflecting on the meeting’s theme, “Is it possible to meet God? The paths of the new evangelisation,” Pope Francis said that, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, people sometimes do not recognise God even when he is close to them.

A Church that is more concerned with “defending its good name” than with proclaiming the Gospel, he warned, ends up “being more of a beautiful museum artifact than the simple and festive home of the Father”.

Your prayer to cut out and collect

“What our brothers and sisters often ask of us, perhaps without being able to pose the question, corresponds to one’s deepest needs: to love and be loved, to be accepted for what one is, to find peace of heart and a joy that is more lasting than entertainment,” he said.

Pope Francis said that the Church can reach out to others by following Jesus’ example with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, that is “not so much by teaching, never by judging, but by making us companions on the road”.

The Church achieves this by not “pretending to have immediate answers and without giving pre-packaged answers, but rather sharing words of life; not aimed at making proselytes, but by leaving room for the creative force of the Holy Spirit, who frees the heart from the slavery that oppresses, and renews it”, the pope said.

To proclaim God to others, he added, does not mean to “justify his existence” because “even the devil knows that God exists”. Instead, the Church fulfills its duty to proclaim God’s love by “giving witness to the joy of knowing him”.

“God is not the answer to an intellectual curiosity or to a commitment of the will, but an experience of love, called to become a story of love,” Pope Francis said. “The mystery of God is never exhausted; it is as immense as his love.”—CNS

PRAYER FOR PEACE IN AFRICA O God of justice and love, Bless us, the people of Africa.

And help us to live in your peace.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, let me sow pardon.

Where there is discord, let me sow harmony.

Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek to be understood, as to understand.

To be loved, as to love.

To receive sympathy, as to give it.

For it is in giving that we shall receive.

In pardoning that we shall be pardoned.

In forgetting ourselves that we shall find unending peace in others. AMEN

ABORTION WARNING: The truth will convict a silent Church. See www.valuelifeabortionisevil.co.za ABORTION: Monthly Sunday Mass bidding prayer: “That Almighty God guide our nation to cease our murders of our unborn infants.”

PARISH NOTICES

NEW PARISH NOTICES MOST WELCOME: If any parish notices listed are no longer valid, call us on 021 465-5007 or e-mail us at m.leveson@scross.co.za so that we can remove them. Also, we’d welcome new 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 7830331.

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 0313093496 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.

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. Malcolm Salida 082 784-5675, mjsalida@ gmail.com

PRAYERS

MY SOUL magnifies the Lord. And my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour; Because he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaid; For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed; Because he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name; And his mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and has exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has given help to Israel, his servant, mindful of his mercy. As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity forever. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Spirit; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen. Magnificat.

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

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. Self-catering, clean and peaceful, with spacious gardens.Safe parking. Close to all shops and public transport. Contact Pat 021 685-7370, 073 263-2105 or kolbe.house@telkomsa.net Visit our

To advertise call Yolanda Timm on 021 465-5007or e-mail

advertising@scross.co.za

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 883. ACROSS: 1 Both, 3 Encircle, 9 Ring out, 10 Purer, 11 Anticatholic, 13 Anchor, 15 Biafra, 17 Each and every, 20 Horeb, 21 Include, 22 Constant, 23 Bede. DOWN: 1 Barnabas, 2 Tenet, 4 Notate, 5 Improvidence, 6 Cardiff, 7 Errs, 8 Force of habit, 12 Ganymede, 14 Chagrin, 16 Indian, 18 Etude, 19 Chic.

Liturgical Calendar Year C – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday October 6, 7th Sunday of the Year Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4, Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9, 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 1314, Luke 17:5-10 Monday October 7, Our Lady of the Rosary Acts 1:12-14, Responsorial psalm Luke 1:46-55, Luke 1:26-38 Tuesday October 8 Jonah 3:1-10, Psalm 130:1-4, 7-8, Luke 10:38-42 Wednesday October 9, Ss Denis and Companions, St John Leonardi

Thursday October 10, St Daniel Comboni Malachi 3:13-4, 2 (3, 13-20), Psalm 1, Luke 11:5-13 Friday October 11, St John XXIII Joel 1:13-15; 2:1-2, Psalm 9:2-3, 6, 16, 8-9, Luke 11:15-26 Saturday October 12 Joel 3:12-21 (4, 12-21), Psalm 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12, Luke 11:27-28 Sunday October 13, 28th Sunday of the Year 2 Kings 5:14-17, Psalm 98:1-4, 2 Timothy 2:8-13, Luke 17:11-19

Jonah 4:1-11, Psalm 86:3-6, 9-10, Luke 11:1-4

St Daniel Comboni

Pray that

AFRICA and

THE WORLD may draw

closer to the HEART OF CHRIST

2 Chron 7:14 Matthew 7:7-12

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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, C Mathieson*, J Mathurine, G Stubbs

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the

28th Sunday: October 13 Readings: 2 Kings 5:14-17, Psalm 98:1-4, 2 Timothy 2:8-13, Luke 17:11-19

S outher n C ross

God of the extraordinary

E

XTRAORDINARY things can happen, if we are prepared to pay attention to what God may be asking of us. That is what the readings for next Sunday seem to be saying.

The first reading is the splendid story of Naaman, the Syrian general who has had the misfortune to catch leprosy, and has been tipped off by his Hebrew slavegirl to contact the “prophet in Israel”.

When Naaman comes (after a fruitless encounter with the King of Israel) to Elisha, he is somewhat put out to be told, through a mere intermediary, to bathe seven times in the Jordan. With perfectly good rivers home in Syria, he wants to know what is so special about the Jordan.

However, his servants (upsetting the normal rules of Ancient Near Eastern social interaction) persuade him to do it; and the extraordinary happens, for “his flesh became like the flesh of a little child”.

Then Naaman wants to express his gratitude with money, but Elisha will have none of it (you might read on and see what Elisha’s servant Gehazi thought of this, and the upshot).

So the agreement is that Naaman is going to take home some soil from the Holy Land, because from now on he is going to worship

only the God of Israel.

Extraordinary things can happen, but God does not put a pricetag on them.

The psalmist is well aware of this, and that is why next Sunday’s psalm starts with the invitation to “sing a new song to the Lord”.

And the reason? “Because he has done wonders; has made his victory known in the sight of the gentiles.” And above all (the extraordinary thing), “he has remembered his steadfast love”, so that, “all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God”.

The result follows quite naturally: “Make a joyful sound to the Lord, all the earth, sing praise to the Lord with the harp, exult and make music.”

In the second reading, Paul is well aware of the extraordinary fact at the heart of our Christianity: “Remember Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead”; and it is part of the old story of God and the people of God, for Jesus is “of the seed of David”, so fitting into the long tale of the Old Testament; but it is a part also of the new story, for it is, says Paul, “in accordance with my Gospel”.

Then we learn of his present plight: “I am suffering evil, imprisoned as an evildoer.”

In terms of a large overgeneralisation, we might say that Catholicism and mainline Protestantism have tended to focus on the teachings of Jesus and the demands of discipleship that flow from those teachings more than they have on the person of Jesus himself. The reverse is true for the Evangelical tradition, where the emphasis has been and continues to be on the person of Jesus and our individual relationship to him.

In fairness, both traditions clearly include the other dimension. Catholics and mainline Protestants haven’t ignored the person of Jesus and Evangelicals haven’t ignored the teachings of Jesus; but, in both cases, one has been more central than the other.

Catholicism, for its part, also emphasised the dimension of one-to-one intimacy with Jesus but placed that within its devotional practice more than within its mainline theology, which is focused more on the mystery of Christ than on the person of Jesus.

S

Conrad

pirituality, not surprisingly, tended to follow the same pattern. Catholics and mainline Protestants, unlike the Evangelicals, have not made one-to-one intimacy with Jesus the centrepiece of spirituality, even as they hold it up as the ultimate ideal. Their emphasis is on Christ.

Evangelicals, on the other hand, focused on an affective, one-to-one, intimacy with Jesus in a way that often left Catholics and mainline Protestants wondering exactly what Evangelicals meant when they asked us: “Have you met Jesus Christ?” “Is Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Saviour?”

Sunday Reflections

But God remains extraordinary, for “God’s word cannot be put into prison”; and there is hope in the situation: “I am enduring everything, for this reason, that the Chosen Ones may gain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, along with everlasting glory.”

The extraordinary thing here is that we are offered a life that is, mysteriously “along with” Jesus, so that, “Even if we die along with him, we are going to live along with him, if we endure, we are going to reign along with him.”

Something remarkable is on offer in Jesus.

The same is evidently the case in the Gospel; and here is a story that is even more extraordinary. It takes us back to the Naaman story that was our first reading.

Jesus is “on the journey into Jerusalem” and (slightly puzzling, this) “passing through the middle of Samaria and Galilee”.

Then, “As he went into a certain village ten leper–men rose up—and they stood afar off” (which is what the Bible says they have to do). But they know what to say: “Jesus, Master—have mercy on us!”

As usual, Jesus’ response is instant but also extraordinarily undramatic: “Off you go; show yourselves to the priests.” Then, almost

Jesus Christ: Person and Mystery Fr Ron W Rolheiser OMI E quite naturally tend to think of the word “Christ” as Jesus’ second name. We think of the name “Jesus Christ” like we think of names like “Susan Parker” or “Jack Smith”.

But that’s an unhealthy confusion. Jesus didn’t have a surname. The word “Christ” is a title which, while it includes the person of Jesus, speaks of something wider than Jesus alone. What’s the difference between “Jesus” and “Christ”?

Jesus refers to a concrete person who, though the Second Person within the Godhead, walked this earth for 33 years and is still today someone whom we understand and relate to as an individual person.

Christ refers to something larger, namely, the huge mystery of both creation and salvation of which Jesus, as the Christ, plays the foundational role but which includes the Eucharist, the Christian community, the historical Christian Churches, the community of all sincere people who walk this planet, and physical creation itself.

Jesus is a person with whom we seek to be in a relationship in friendship and intimacy, while Christ is a mystery of which we and all creation are part of and within which we participate.

This has huge implications, not least in how we understand spirituality and Church.

In essence, this is what’s at stake: What’s more central to us, what Jesus has done and asks of us or the person of Jesus himself?

It’s interesting to look at the various churches in terms of that question: Are they more focused on the teaching of Jesus or on the person of Jesus? Are they more focused on Jesus or on Christ?

Nicholas King SJ

casually, the narrator tells us that “as they went off, they were made clean”.

However, the story cannot quite end there; for one of them reacts in an extraordinary manner: “Seeing that he was cured, he returned with a loud voice, glorifying God”, and it does not stop there, for “he fell on his face at his feet, giving him thanks”.

Then comes the detail that makes it still more extraordinary: “Now he was a Samaritan”, one of that hated race (though a compatriot of the Good Samaritan).

And Jesus draws the lesson: “Were not ten made clean? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?”

This is an extraordinary story indeed. And it ends in an interesting way: “Rise up and go on the journey—your faith has saved you.”

Presumably this does not mean that the other nine were given their leprosy back; rather it is that this one has gone deeper into the mystery of God. Shall we follow him, this week?

Southern Crossword #883

Final Reflection

“Have you been born again?”

Conversely, Catholics and mainline Protestants often looked critically at their Evangelical brothers and sisters, questioning whether their overriding emphasis on personal salvation and personal intimacy with Jesus does not distract them from having to deal with some central teachings of Jesus that have to do with social justice and with wide faith embrace.

Admittedly, both emphases are needed.

We see that clearly in the preaching of the early Church.

The renowned scripture scholar Raymond Brown tells us that, beginning already with St Paul, the earliest Christian preachers shifted the primary focus of their proclamation to Jesus himself, almost as if they could not announce the kingdom without first telling of him through whom the kingdom was made present.

Proclaiming a person himself (rather than just that person’s message) was novel for early Christian preachers. Their proclamation of Jesus’ person was radically different from the way the Hebrew Scriptures honour Moses, in that they honour his message but never draw attention to his person in terms of asking anyone to relate to him.

As an aside: There’s a lesson here of how we often treat our saints and holy persons.

We honour them through admiration when what’s really asked of us is that we imitate their actions.

Christian discipleship, clearly, asks for both, intimacy with Jesus and attention to what he taught, personal piety and social justice, firm loyalty to one’s own ecclesial family and the capacity to also embrace all others of sincere heart as one’s faith family.

The 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once suggested that what Jesus really wants is followers, not admirers.

That’s spoken as a true mainline Protestant. Evangelicals wouldn’t disagree, but would argue that what Jesus really wants is an intimate relationship with us.

The earliest preachers of the Gospel would agree with both Kierkegaard and the Evangelicals. We need to proclaim both, the message of Jesus and Jesus himself.

ACROSS

1. Two persons taken together (4) 3. What the halo will do about the saintly head (8) 9. Touring around to hear what the church bells do (4,3) 10. More virtuous, like good water (5) 11. A cat in cloth I find offensive to my faith (12) 13. Symbol of hope that goes overboard (6) 15. Place in Nigeria appearing in Serbia, France, etc (6) 17. All without exception (4,3,5) 20. Mountain where Moses led his flock (Ex 3) (5) 21. Don’t omit (7) 22. Be unmoving in the faith (8) 23. The Venerable English monk (4)

DOWn

1. Son of Encouragement in Acts 4 (8) 2. It’s a principle of belief (5) 4. Write down nought at ten (6) 5. Medici proven to be in an unprepared state (12) 6. You will find the Welsh bishop here (7) 7. Strays from the fact (4) 8. Does it prompt the monk to keep the holy rule? (5,2,5) 12. Deny game with cupbearer on Mount Olympus (8) 14. Arching about can cause upset (7) 16. Summer in New Delhi?

(6) 18. Musical piece changes eastern duet (5) 19. Looking elegant, Ken leaves the bird (4)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

S

T Peter and the devil were having an argument about rugby.

To settle the argument, the devil proposed a game to be played on neutral grounds between a select team from the heavenly host and his own handpicked boys.

“Very well,” said St Peter, “but do you realise that we have all the best players and the most accomplished coaches in heaven?”

“I know, and that’s no problem,” answered the devil. “We’ve got all the referees.”

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