191106

The

S outher n C ross

November 6 to November 12, 2019

Reg no. 1920/002058/06

Sipuka heads SA Church leaders’ body

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no 5160

www.scross.co.za

Church’s history of opposing abortion

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R12 (incl VAT RSA)

Centenary Jubilee Year

Getting close to St Eugene de Mazenod

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Joys, worries as Radio Veritas marks 20 years STAFF REPORTER

Fr Emil Blaser OP delivers his annual director’s report at Radio Veritas’ 20th birthday celebration at St Benedict’s College in Bedfordview, Johannesburg. He is flanked by apostolic nuncio Archbishop Peter Wells and Liz Maepa, the station’s board chairperson.

(Photos: Günther Simmermacher)

Pope drops the secret C

By JunnO AROCHO ESTEVES

ITING the negative misinterpretations that the word “secret” implies, Pope Francis has changed the name of the Vatican Secret Archives to the Vatican Apostolic Archives.

In a decree, issued motu proprio, the pope said that semantic changes over the centuries have caused the meaning of the Latin word for “secret” to be misunderstood and “to be coloured with ambiguous, even negative nuances”.

“Having lost the true meaning of the term secretum...this term has taken on the prejudicial meaning of [something] hidden, not to be revealed and reserved for a few,” the pope said.

The Archivum Secretum Vaticanum was founded by Pope Paul V in 1612. The term “secret” was commonly used in the 17th century as something that is “private, separate, reserved”, Pope Francis explained.

While the archives always have been the pope’s private collection, they have been open to scholars conducting research since 1881.

Far from being something hidden away, the pope said, the vast historical archives and cultural patrimony were always meant to be shared.

Pope Francis said that the change to the

The signature of astronomer Galileo Galilei from the records of his trial is seen on a document in the Vatican Archives, which are no longer “secret” as Pope Francis renamed them the Vatican Apostolic Archives.

(Photo: Vatican Apostolic Archives) archives’ name will not change its “identity, structure and mission”, which always has served “as an indispensable instrument of the Petrine ministry”.

“The Church,” the pope said, “is not afraid of history, but rather loves it and wants to love it more and better, as God loves it!”—CNS

R

ADIO Veritas celebrated its 20th birthday with a live transmission from its studios of a Mass celebrated by the apostolic nuncio, followed by a braai at St Benedict’s College in Bedfordview, Johannesburg.

At the celebration, station director Fr Emil Blaser OP was presented with a special blessing from Pope Francis for the occasion

by Archbishop Peter Wells, the nuncio.

In his annual director’s report, Fr Blaser outlined the troubles in the world and in South Africa, and even within the Church which has seen ongoing scandals and “an unprecedented disrespect towards our Holy Father by a small group of right-wing Catholics”.

In that context, Radio Veritas is a beacon of hope.

“We broadcast to people living in the world I have described and I know from feedback that we give people hope and joy through the programmes we broadcast,” Fr Blaser said.

“Our mission is to counter the bad news in the world with the good news of Jesus Christ.”

Fr Blaser called on the Catholic community to spread the word about Radio Veritas, which he estimated to have 100 000 listeners, locally and abroad.

“Yet there are pockets of people who have still not heard of Radio Veritas,” he said. “Some parishes have closed their doors to us for whatever reason.”

With monthly expenses of R500 000, Fr Blaser noted, “we are really living from hand to mouth”.

He said that Radio Veritas needs to increase income “so that we can deliver a quality product and inspiring programmes”.

In September 2020, Radio Veritas will host a pilgrimage to the Holy Land led by Bishop Duncan Tsoke, auxiliary in Johannesburg, to help raise funds.

Fr Blaser pointed out that in the past year

The cake to mark Radio Veritas’ 20th birthday is cut during a celebration function held at St Benedict’s College in Bedfordview, Johannesburg.

Radio Veritas had lost five staff members. At present, the full-time staff numbers eight, complemented by 15 volunteers.

He made particular mention of the contributions by station manager Khanya Litabe, Tiiso Musoeu and Sheila Pires.

He lauded the latter “for her excellent programmes which are regularly broadcast on Vatican Radio. She has truly put us on the international stage.”

Fr Blaser also thanked Archbishop William Slattery, recently retired head of Pretoria archdiocese, “who in the midst of his busy schedule presents a weekly hourand-a-half programme”, and the priests “who help us with programmes and the celebration of daily Mass”.

He also made mention of the excellent cooperation between The Southern Cross and Radio Veritas.

Fr Blaser and his long-time programme director Olinda Orlando have both suffered health problems, and he thanked “all of you who have been praying for us and showing us your love and concern”.

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

www.fowlertours.co.za/passion

2

The Southern Cross, november 6 to november 12, 2019

LOCAL

Sipuka now heads SA church leaders’ body

By ERIn CARELSE

B

ISHOP Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha, president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, has been appointed the new chair of the National Church Leaders’ Consultation.

Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town has stepped down and Bishop Sipuka will take up his new position with immediate effect.

“I’m not sure how I feel just yet, I will take things as they come,” Bishop Sipuka said in reaction to his appointment. He asked Southern Cross readers to pray for him.

The National Church Leaders’ Consultation (NCLC) is an ecumenical body that concerns itself with issues and challenges the country is facing, and what church leaders are called to do.

The group of religious leaders includes representatives from the South African Council of Churches, including the Catholic

Bishop Sithembele Sipuka has been appointed new chair of the national Church Leaders’ Consultation. (Photo: Fr Paul Tatu CSS) Church, as well as from the Muslim Judicial Council.

Bishop Sipuka said that a lot of the discussion at the latest meeting was around HIV/Aids.

“The perception that’s out there is that HIV/Aids is under control, but the reality is that it is actually escalating, and what we lament

more is the sidelining of the churches in being partners in addressing this problem,” he said.

He explained that funders tend to give money to government and non-governmental organisations, and indications are that the churches are very attractive; the Catholic Church is the leading institution providing HIV/Aids care after the government.

“So we were discussing how we could engage the funders and the government to include us. That’s not really that we want money from them, but to engage with us in terms of the knowledge we have in this regard, in terms of strategy, and in what we, as a Church, are good at,” Bishop Sipuka said.

He said Church leaders are working at compiling a full analysis of the HIV/Aids situation so that when a memorandum of understanding has been set out, they can present things which they perceive as issues, and provide solutions.

Radio Veritas hands mic to sodalities STAFF REPORTER

A

S part of Radio Veritas’ 20th birthday celebrations, the station will open up the airwaves to sodalities for the whole day on Tuesday, November 26.

In what the station calls the “Radio Veritas Fun Share Relay”—or #RVfunshare2019—ten Catholic sodalities were invited for the initiative. The first four to respond were then invited to participate.

“Each group gets a presenter who will take them through training to help them prepare for the day, and together they will decide on the promo, content, presenters, producers, guests, and features of their time on air,” said station manager Khanya Litabe.

All normal programming will be suspended for the day, with the exception of Mass at noon.

Radio Veritas’ presenter and producer Tiiso Musoeu handles entries for the Fun Share Relay day on november 26.

“Each group will be asked to select a charity and gets two hours and 50 minutes’ airtime to market themselves and their chosen charity while taking calls from the members of their constituency and from other listeners,” Mr Litabe said.

The objective is to raise funds for

the selected charity and for Radio Veritas.

“In the end, the chosen charity of the winning group will get 10% of all the funds raised on this day, and Radio Veritas will receive a list of needs from this charity,” he said.

The winner will be announced on Friday, November 29, at 8:10.

To determine the time slots that each group/sodality will occupy on November 26, a draw was held live on air.

The participating groups are: Daughters of St Anne (6:00 to 9:00), Catholic Men’s Association (9:00 to 12:00), Catholic Charismatic Renewal (13:00 to 16:00) and St Anne’s Sodality (16:00 to 19:00).

“The Radio Veritas Fun Share Relay will run every quarter to give more groups an opportunity at the mic,” Mr Litabe said.

Souther n Cros s Pilgrimage

MEDJUGORJE • ROME ASSISI • LORETO

Students at St Dominic’s Catholic School for Girls in Boksburg, Johannesburg archdiocese, held a fun day dressing up as book characters.

Mission Without Borders to reach out at Christmas

By ERIn CARELSE

O

PERATION Christmas Love (OCL), a project created by Christian organisation Mission Without Borders (MWB), is looking to put together and distribute Christmas boxes for thousands of poor families in Eastern Europe.

“Each year as temperatures drop below -20°C, thousands of poor families in Eastern Europe struggle to put food on the table. Christmas is a time of isolation and hopelessness, the opposite of what it should be,” said Ron Lindeman, director of Mission Without Borders SA. This Christmas, MWB aims to send 30 000 12kg parcels to families.

It costs R450 to give a family an OCL box, which comprises basic food, other essentials, special treats for children, and Christian literature.

“Across Eastern Europe, people are living in serious poverty. They have limited access to services and their health and wellbeing are under threat,” Mr Lindeman explained.

“It is a problem that affects families for generations and in the six countries we work in—Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine—it is a problem that is destroying communities and children’s futures.”

Asked why OCL was never lo-

calised as there are many poor families in South Africa, Mr Lindeman explained that South Africa’s underprivileged have support from what she numbered as 134 000 NPOs and NGOs—but these six Eastern European countries have not much else besides MWB. “In South Africa, we bemoan our unemployment rate of around 23%.

On average in these countries, it’s 60%. In Albania, at 67%, it’s the world’s highest. There are no jobs, no money, poor medical care, homes falling apart,” he said.

MWB was established in 1960 as Underground Evangelism, and started out smuggling Bibles and other Christian literature behind the Iron Curtain.

Later, renamed Aid to the Persecuted, it also brought material support to oppressed Christians in the Soviet Union.

With the collapse of the Iron Curtain, MWB was established.

Its remit is to bring spiritual, emotional, educational and material aid to all those in need, regardless of their beliefs, with a view to helping them become self-sufficient. n To donate, visit www.mwb-sa.org and click on “Donate Now” for banking details and other relevant information. For more information, contact Ron Lindeman on 012 345-1467 or 083 390-6858.

SACBC’s Khanya House welcomes Archbishop Mpako and SC editor STAFF REPORTER

O

18-27 May 2020 With Archbishop Stephen Brislin

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

ThRee counTRieS in one TouR!

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

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FFICIALS and staff members of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) head office in Pretoria enjoyed special visits on successive days.

Visiting the new Khanya House in Waterkloof for the first time were Archbishop Dabula Mpako of Pretoria and, on the following day, Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher.

Archbishop Mpako, first SACBC vice-president and since June archbishop of Pretoria, emphasised that though born in the Eastern Cape and previously head of Queenstown diocese, he has spent most of his life in Pretoria.

He said he’d done his seminary training and priestly work there before Queenstown. “Now I am back in Pretoria; Pretoria is my home,” the former vicargeneral of the archdiocese said.

Archbishop Mpako celebrated Mass for the staff in the Khanya House chapel.

In his homily he said we all have to choose between grace and sin: “The choice of sin brings death and the choice of grace life. If we choose Christ we choose life, but if our choice is on the side of sin, we choose to become slaves.”

SACBC associate secretarygeneral Fr Patrick Rakeketsi CSS

Archbishop Dabula Mpako of Pretoria paid his first visit to the SACBC’s new Khanya House headquarters in Waterkloof. introduced SACBC staff members in various departments to Archbishop Mpako.

During his visit, Mr Simmermacher was shown around Khanya House—the former Franciscan house of study, Santa Sophia—by communications officer Fr Paul Tatu CSS. Meeting staff members, Mr Simmermacher encouraged them to use The Southern Cross to tell the story of their work.

“The faithful don’t know much about the marvellous work done by the various departments of the SACBC, and those stories need to be known,” he said.

“Even I have been surprised by the huge extent of the work

of departments like the Aids Office,” he said. “The SACBC has a significant impact in our society—and the Church has to tell that story.”

Mr Simmermacher compared the pastoral setting of the new Khanya House to the previous head office in Pretoria’s CBD. “The Waterkloof premises have light and warmth, whereas the previous premises were dark and cold—and loud.”

The new Khanya House is set amid “the little Vatican”. Its neighbours are St John Vianney Seminary, Nazareth House, and the archbishop’s residence.

The nunciature is a short drive up the road, and St Pius X parish is also nearby.

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, november 6 to november 12, 2019

3

Religion at fore in Motsepe R100m jobs fund

By ERIn CARELSE

T

HE Catholic Church is among the 33 faith-based organisations that will help handle the Motsepe Foundation’s R100 million job-creation fund, according to Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg.

The archbishop attended the initial meeting of the foundation and various religious leaders.

The fund will focus specifically on faith-based projects in a bid to fight youth unemployment.

Statistics South Africa notes that the official unemployment rate sits at 29% and youth unemployment has soared to more than 55%.

“Many South Africans are poor, unemployed and feel marginalised

and excluded from the economy,” said Dr Patrice Motsepe, founder and chairman of the foundation.

“There is a lot of outstanding talent and creativity within religious and faith-based organisations and we are confident our partnership will create thousands of sustainable jobs,” he said.

Mr Motsepe, a Catholic, explained that the fund is structured to operate in a simple, non-technical and flexible manner while adhering to global good-practice on governance, auditing and ethics.

A sustainable job-creation committee will assess project applications from faith-based organisations, and recommend deserving applications to an advisory council for considera-

tion and approval.

“There are significant opportunities to create thousands of sustainable jobs in agriculture, farming and agri-business,” Mr Motsepe noted.

These are expected to result from potential collaboration and partnerships with religious and faith-based organisations, and joint ventures which the Motsepe Foundation is initiating between traditional leaders, kings, their communities, and black and white farmers.

Each of the faith-based organisations will appoint two members to serve on the advisory council and one member to serve on the sustainable job-creation committee of the fund.

There will also be members who are experts and have experience in sustainable job creation, skills and training projects and partnerships, who will serve on the sustainable job-creation committee.

Application for funding will also be open to people who are not members of identified religious groups affiliated to the fund.

Donors and funders who contribute more than R50 million to the fund will be entitled to appoint two members to serve on the advisory council and one to serve on the sustainable job-creation committee.

The foundation and the faithbased organisations will have their initial advisory council meeting on November 25 to discuss the first

batch of applications and progress with other donors.

Fund meetings will be held four times a year.

Participating religious and faithbased organisations across the country include the Catholic Church, Zion Christian Church, Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Methodist Church of Southern Africa, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa, Dutch Reformed Church, Union of Orthodox Synagogues, Jamiat Ulama, Nazareth Baptist Church, SA Hindu Maha Sabha, Muslim Judicial Council, Evangelical Alliance, Greek Orthodox Church, and South African Council of Churches.

Signed, healed, delivered

By ERIn CARELSE

A

Fr Joseph Leathem’s 60th ordination jubilee was celebrated at St Thérèse’s parish in Edenvale, Johannesburg diocese, and with his OMI fellows and parishioners in Ireland (above).

Catholic jokes book aims for big laughs STAFF REPORTER

A

NEW book of Catholic jokes aims to bring laughs.

Church Chuckles: The Big Book of Catholic Jokes, collated and edited by Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher, is published under the Southern Cross Books imprint.

The book also includes more than 60 classic cartoons by Conrad previously published in The Southern Cross, starting in 1993.

Mr Simmermacher said that at almost 500 jokes over 240 pages, this might be the most comprehensive collection of Catholic jokes yet.

The jokes are ordered in categories—such as “Priests in the Parish”, “Religious Orders”, “Catechism”, “Their Lordships, Graces and Eminences”— with Conrad cartoons to illustrate these themes.

“I think this collection has something for everybody,” said Mr Simmermacher, adding that compiling the book took several years.

Many of the jokes have appeared in the popular “Church Chuckle” on the Southern Cross back pages.

Mr Simmermacher rewrote almost all the jokes in the collection to suit the South African context and “to conform, at least notionally, with Catholic teachings and practices”.

He believes the collection will be popular with all Catholics with a sense of humour, and “will also be a useful resource for priests who are looking for a suitable gag to get the congregation’s attention in homilies”, Mr Simmermacher joked.

All proceeds of the book will go to support The Southern Cross. n Church Chuckles: The Big Book of Catholic Jokes sells for R180 plus p&p, and is available from books@ scross.co.za or 021 465-5007 or from the Southern Cross offices at 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town.

CATHOLIC Charismatic prayer group from two parishes is gearing up to host its first healing and deliverance conference in Cape Town in December.

The guest speakers will be Sacred Heart Father Joseph Wilson of Johannesburg and Fr Colin Bowes, vicar-general of the diocese of De Aar. The December 14-16 conference is hosted by the parishes of Our Lady of Fatima and Holy Family in Bellville.

Fr Bowes is the founder and director of the Amazing Grace Retreat Centre in Noupoort in the Karoo, and is internationally respected in the exorcism field.

Fr Wilson, who is the spiritual director of the Healing and Deliverance Ministry and chair of Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Johannesburg archdiocese, has been ministering what he calls the Jesus PHD (Preaching, Healing and Deliverance) for 19 years.

“We want to emphasise that the two-day conference will be a grounded in scripture, giving scriptural information about the basis of Jesus,” Fr Wilson said.

“It focuses on the full ministry of Jesus which he himself did and which he wants his Church to do as part of the great commission, which includes preaching, healing, and deliverance,” he said.

Fr Wilson, who regularly conducts healing and deliverance services in Gauteng, said the Church has partially carried out preaching but healing and deliverance are often neglected.

“Many people who come to me for healing and deliverance have told me how they’ve presented themselves to their priest and were told to see a psychiatrist. This is deeply disappointing and discouraging for Catholics,” he said.

“This is why people, Catholics included, tend to turn to people who take these areas more seriously like sangomas and false prophets—whereas the Church should be providing this service,” Fr Wilson noted.

Among the topics at the conference will be deliverance from intergenerational/ancestral curses, emotional trauma, healing of memories and hurt, and how to hold on to healing and deepen it.

There will also be praise and worship, blessed adoration, and daily Mass.

The first Charismatic prayer group was started under the late Fr Bill Butler, then parish priest of Our Lady of Fatima, Bellville, in 1976.

A year later, for practical reasons, another group was started at Holy Family church in Bellville under Fr David Rowles.

The prayer group also forms part of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Cape Town and part of the International Family, CHARIS. Weekly meetings are held every Tuesday at 19:30 at Holy Family church hall in Bellville. n The December 14-16 conference will be from 9:00 till 17:00 at Our Lady of Fatima community hall in Bellville Centre. The cost is R100 per person and limited seats are available. To register e-mail name, surname and contact number to bellvill hdconf@gmail.com or contact Susan Hartzenberg on 072 202-0470.

Selling The Southern Cross at St John’s parish in Fish Hoek, Cape Town, are Patsy Dysan (left) and Fiona Purvis. The latter also coordinates the sacristans in the parish.

We love receiving your photos of parishioners selling The Southern Cross—please keep them coming!

Send photos to pics@scross.co.za (Photo: Magda Kus)

4

The Southern Cross, november 6 to november 12, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

Christianity in Middle East may never recover

By BROnWEn DACHS

C Br nicolas Tixier OP, speaks at the signing of an agreement between the uAE and unESCO to partner in the rebuilding of churches in Mosul, Iraq.

(Photo: unESCO/Christelle Alix)

UAE to rebuild churches destroyed by ISIS

T

HE United Arab Emirates is partnering with UNESCO to rebuild two Catholic churches in Mosul, Iraq, that were destroyed in 2014 by the ISIS. The initiative will help rebuild AlTahera church and Al-Saa’a church.

The partnership “sends a message of light, in seemingly darker times”, said UAE culture minister Noura Al Kaabi.

“By rebuilding a fraction of the past, Iraq can shape its future as an inclusive, tolerant and open society which has always found a tangible manifestation in Mosul’s rich historical sites,” he said.

The agreement is part of the UAE’s “Year of Tolerance” initiative, which began with a $50 million agreement signed in April 2018 to help rebuild historical landmarks in Mosul. Students in the departments of archaeology, architecture and engineering at the University of Mosul will take part in the process of restoration of the landmark build-

ings, UNESCO said.

In the two years of ISIS control, over 3,3 million Iraqis were internally displaced. The terrorist movement destroyed at least 28 sites of religious significance in the city after taking control of it in June 2014.

Al-Saa’a church is a 19th-century Dominican church. Its structure was damaged and its convent looted and ransacked.

Al-Tahera is a 19th-century Syriac Catholic church.

Iraqi forces completed their recapture of Mosul from ISIS in July 2017, and the nation’s ambassador to the Holy See said at the time that they are eager to rebuild the city and have people return home, but would require help to do so.

Five years on from the conquering of Christian communities in Iraq

by ISIS, Christians in the country remain at the “point of extinction”, Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil has said.—CNA

HRISTIANITY is disappearing from towns and cities in parts of the Middle East, warns a new report from the papal foundation Aid to the Church in Need.

It also said that persecution of Christians “has worsened the most” in South and East Asia.

Urgent action by the international community is needed to prevent more Christians fleeing countries, including Iraq and Syria, said the report, titled “Persecuted and Forgotten?” It was based on a 2017-19 study of the persecution of Christians around the world.

“Each person who leaves makes it harder for those left behind,” it said.

In Iraq, the number of Christians has dropped from 1,5 million before 2003 to well below 150 000 ,and in Syria, the Christian population has dropped in size by twothirds from 2 million in 2011, when its civil war began, said the Aid to the Church in Need report.

While Kurdish and Christian fighters, allied with US troops, are largely responsible and credited for eradicating much of the ISIS presence in Syria, “the impact of this genocide—continuing migration, security crises, extreme poverty and slow recovery—means that it may now be too late for some Middle East Christian communities to recover”, the organisation said.

“Around the world, Christians are a favoured target for violent militant extremists who operate without boundaries and who attack

A woman is assisted at the site of a car bomb blast outside the Syriac Orthodox church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Qamishli, Syria, on July 11, 2019. Christianity is disappearing from towns and cities in the Middle East, warns a new report from the papal foundation Aid to the Church in need. (Photo: Rodi Said, Reuters/CnS) local Christians as a legitimate alternative to a direct strike on the West,” it said.

In India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and other countries in South and East Asia, it said, “an increasing unity of purpose between religionationalist groups and governments represents a growing—and largely unrecognised—threat to Christians and other minorities”.

In Asia, “Christianity is seen as not only alien but as an agent of unwanted Western influence”.

In Sri Lanka, Easter suicide bombings claimed more than 250 lives and injured more than 400 people.

During Mass on January 27, two

bombs exploded at the cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, Philippines, killing 20 people and injuring more than 100, the report said.

In India, 477 anti-Christian incidents were reported in 2017, it said.

Christians in several African countries “are threatened by Islamists seeking to eliminate the Church—either by use of force or by dishonest means, including bribing people to convert”, it said.

In Nigeria, Islamist militants continue “a reign of terror against Christians and Muslims alike”, the organisation said, noting that more than 3 700 Christians were reportedly killed in 2018.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, november 6 to november 12, 2019

Synod: No women deacons, perhaps married priests T

By JunnO AROCHO ESTEVES

O proclaim the Gospel message of hope, the Catholic Church in the Amazon must open new paths of evangelisation in the region, including by instituting new ministries for lay men and women, the Synod of Bishops said.

The final document of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon looked at ways the Church can increase its ministry in the region, including by ordaining married men. But at the heart of the document was the need to bring the Good News to the Amazon, a mission that includes safeguarding indigenous people, cultures and land that are under constant threat of annihilation.

The synod brought together 185 voting members—cardinals, bishops, 20 priests and one religious brother—and 80 experts and observers to discuss “new paths for the Church and for an integral ecology�.

All 120 paragraphs in the final document garnered the necessary two-thirds approval needed for passage. The Vatican said 181 synod members were present, so each paragraph needed 120 votes to pass.

The focus of the synod’s final document was the call for the Church to further its mission in proclaiming the Good News by uniting itself more to the people of the Amazon who, for decades, have suffered the consequences of humankind’s greed.

The synod called on all Christians to show their awareness of the value of God’s creation by countering the current “culture of excessive con-

Pope Francis leaves the final session of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon at the Vatican.

(Photo:Paul Haring/CnS) sumption� through recycling, reducing their use of fossil fuels and plastic, as well as by reducing their consumption of meat and fish.

The discussions that took place in the synod, the document said, also offered bishops an opportunity to reflect “on how to structure the local churches� in order to address the needs of a “Church with an Amazonian face�.

Among those ways are new ministries and roles for the laity, including “in consultation or decision-making in the life and mission of the Church�.

T

o increase the Church’s presence in areas that lack priests, the document proposed that bishops entrust “the exercise of the pastoral care of the communities to a person not invested� with the priesthood for “a specific period of time�.

However, “The priest, with the power and faculty of the parish

priest, is always responsible for the community,� the document said.

Members of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon asked that women be given leadership roles in the Catholic Church, although they stopped short of calling for women deacons. They approved several paragraphs in the document insisting that their role in leading Catholic communities be recognised and that “the voice of women can be heard, they are consulted and participate in decision-making� in the Church.

The final document proposed the ordination of “suitable and esteemed men of the community, who have had a fruitful permanent diaconate and receive an adequate formation for the priesthood, having a legitimately constituted and stable family�.

Although the paragraph regarding the proposal for ordaining married men was approved, it received the least amount of support among those who voted, with 128 in favour and 41 opposed.

The final document also spoke of the “elaboration of an Amazonian rite�, as several synod members had proposed.

After the votes were cast, Pope Francis told synod participants that he hoped to publish a post-synodal exhortation “before the end of the year so that not too much time has passed�. “A word from the pope about what he has lived in the synod may do some good,� the pope said. “It all depends on how much time I have to think.�—CNS

An intercontinental strategic nuclear missiles group formation is seen during the 70th anniversary celebration of the founding of the People's Republic of China in Beijing. (Photo: Shen Shi, Reuters/CnS)

Vatican: No nuclear weapons

E

XPRESSING concern that arms control treaties are “abrogated and flouted�, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the United Nations called on global leaders to work to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

In a series of addresses to two UN committees, Archbishop Bernardito Auza said nations must step up to prevent a new nuclear arms race from emerging and work to reduce growing threats to peace. “Member states should spare no effort to reverse the current downward spiral of arms control and disarmament policies and dedicate themselves to elaborating new mechanisms of arms reduction leading to the elimination of nuclear weapons and general and complete disarmament,� Archbishop Auza said.

The permanent observer’s concerns focused on the human consequences of nuclear war and urged all nations to ratify and implement the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons passed by the UN in 2017.

The treaty emerged from member states frustrated with the slow pace of nuclear disarmament. While 122 nations approved the treaty and only Netherlands opposed it, 69 countries did not vote, including all the states possessing nuclear weapons and those under the nuclear umbrella.

Archbishop Auza noted that the Holy See had ratified other arms control pacts, including the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, calling them “vital pieces in the nuclear disarmament architecture�. “To realise the full promise of these instruments, we must work tirelessly to restore dialogue and to fight the trust-deficits, which unfortunately characterise the current situation of disarmament, as well as in the building of our common and collective security,� he said.

The archbishop urged ratification of the test-ban treaty by all countries so that it can come into force.—CNS

Jobless Argentinians angry on poverty

E

LECTIONS in Argentina brought the Peronist political movement back to power as voters in the South American country—home of Pope Francis—expressed anger over an economic crisis that has impoverished millions.

The election of Alberto Fernandez, 60, as Argentina’s new president surprised few, including the priests at the St Cajetan shrine, where jobless Argentines have flocked to seek intervention. “We didn’t need polls. Our polls took place in the confessionals, with the people coming for blessings, coming to the shrines,� said Fr Miguel Angel

Moreyra, priest at the shrine. “People came angry, with rage, with anger, insulting the president and government, something which is rare to hear.�

Mr Fernandez, a Peronist, defeated incumbent President Mauricio Macri. Some of Mr Macri’s supporters saw the pope as a political opponent.

Argentina’s economy has stalled in recent years. Its currency dropped precipitously in 2019, and the annual inflation rate is running at more than 50%.

The poverty rate has surged from 29% in 2015 to 35% in 2019, according to the Social Debt Observatory at the Pontif-

ical Catholic University of Argentina.

Pope Francis loomed over the elections from afar, but did not interfere. “The pope has a lot influence, and there are bishops and the majority of the clergy who clearly sympathise with Peronism,� said Mariano De Vedia, of La Nacion.

The pillars of Peronism are social justice, economic independence and political sovereignty.

The Argentine Church has lost influence on moral matters, but it “has a strong presence in the poorest areas�, Mr De Vedia said. —CNS

Faith leaders sign euthanasia declaration

By CAROL GLATz

R

EPRESENTATIVES from the Catholic and Orthodox churches and the Muslim and Jewish faiths signed a joint declaration at the Vatican reaffirming each religion’s clear opposition to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

They also encouraged promoting palliative care so that dying patients could receive the best, most comprehensive physical, emotional, social, religious

and spiritual care and appropriate support for their families, according to the joint statement.

Pope Francis met with the signatories, who presented him with a copy of the declaration they signed a few hours earlier at a Vatican ceremony. The signatories included representatives from the Vatican and Muslim and Jewish scholars and leaders.

The declaration, titled “Position paper of the Abrahamic monotheistic religions on mat-

ters concerning the end of life�, was prepared by the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Because of wide debate and discussion in society concerning end-of-life issues and policies, the aim of the joint statement was to clearly present the positions of the monotheistic faiths concerning “the values and practices relevant to the dying patient�, their families, healthcare providers and policy makers who belong to one of these religions, it said.—CNS

Rwanda: 25 years peaceful coexistence

By JuDE ATEMAnKE

A

S Rwanda continues to recover from memories of the 1994 genocide, the Catholic Church in this Central African nation is preparing to look back at her activities over the past 25 years in regard to witnessing to peaceful coexistence. “The Catholic Church in Rwanda wishes to look back on its progress towards unity and reconciliation,� said Archbishop Antoine Kambanda of Kigali, president of the Episcopal Com-

mission for Justice and Peace. “We want to celebrate these achievements and share with the rest of the world where we have come from and where we are today and consolidate what we have built further.�

The celebration will be a three-day event, beginning from November 29. Some of the activities envisaged include a consultative dialogue to review the contribution of the Church in peace-building, unity and reconciliation; an exhibition showcasing what has been achieved;

visits to genocide memorial sites’ and a national forum on consolidating peace, unity and reconciliation gains, Archbishop Kambanda said.

Secretary-general Fidèle Ndayisaba of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission acknowledged the efforts of the Church towards unity and reconciliation, and recognised the Church’s work “in comforting victims and healing moral wounds through the teachings prepared for this purposeâ€?. —ACI Africa

5

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6

The Southern Cross, november 6 to november 12, 2019

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: GĂźnther Simmermacher

The tensions of art

T

HE blistering outrage over a school art project that was considered by some to be blasphemous holds lessons for all involved, including those who registered their anger on social media.

To be sure, the artworks by a matric pupil of Grantleigh College in KwaZulu-Natal are not in good taste. They replace Jesus at the Last Supper with the clown mascot of a global fast food chain and depict Christ with horns. The learner also used pages torn from a Bible to fashion his art.

At first glance, most Christians would be shocked by such imagery. But this is art, even if the artist is an amateur. Art requires context and interpretation, even and especially if we don’t like it.

The offending art was created as a matric project and exhibited by the school among other matrics’ art, as is customary in most high schools. It was not created by a professional artist for public exhibition.

The boy did not seek to make a public statement. This was art created specifically for grades.

The publicity the artworks received was generated by an angry father who filmed and posted it on social media. His commentary, describing the art as “demonic�, whipped up a mood of umbrage as his video went viral.

Art may offend. If we strip artists of their freedom of expression (in as far as that freedom does not intrude on the human rights of others) whenever their art displeases us, then we undermine our own right of expression as people of faith.

Those rights are already being eroded by those who want to push religion to the peripheries by excluding it from the public sphere, those who object to our pro-life stance, those who object to Nativity Scenes in public spaces, and so on.

Likewise, the adherents of any religion and none have a right to make known their objections to that what they feel is offensive.

But that licence is accompanied by two caveats.

Firstly, the offence taken must be reasonable; secondly, a campaign of protest must be fair and take into account the rights of others. The lines between fair and unreasonable objection can be thin. When this is so, it is better to err on the side of charity.

It is wrong to allege blas-

phemy, never mind “satanism�, where no such transgression can be shown to be intended, or even to exist.

A necessary element in the commission of blasphemy is the intent to attack or mock God. The boy says his art targets hypocrites who invoke God but don’t live Christ. The distortion of Christ in his images, then, refers to what the hypocrites make Christ, not what Christ is.

In that view, which is consistent with a reasonable interpretation of his art, the artist doesn’t intend to deride or attack Christ; he depicts the distortion of Christ by those whom he sees as hypocrites.

We have every right to be disgusted and upset by the depictions. We are entitled to dislike the art. We are free to argue that the boy used the wrong medium and the wrong tone. We have a right to take offence. But we cannot call something blasphemous when, by definition, it isn’t.

There are times when there are authentic attacks on the Church and all it holds sacred.

These require steadfast objection which must be expressed with clarity and, when appropriate, with charity.

Such charity was not always evident in reaction to the school project.

The actions of Pastor Andrew Anderson, the man who filmed the images and disseminated them on social media, are more troubling than any clumsy teenage art.

Where is the charity in publicshaming and gang-bullying a teenage boy over an artwork?

Where is the justice in not even giving the boy the right to explain himself in the video before labelling his art “demonic�?

Where is the concern for the psychological welfare of a kid who is preparing for his matric?

And what of the fury of those whose protest exceeded the limits of reasonable commentary?

Have we lost our sense of empathy? If that boy was our son or grandson or nephew or brother, even if we abhorred his art, how would we feel about him being the target of such frenzied public loathing?

And we should reflect on this core question: Is Christ harmed more by the adolescent art of a teenage boy, or by the merciless animosity that has been directed at him?

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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.

Amazon Synod detractors perpetuate wrongs T HE list is growing; our enigmatic pope, Francis, has again come under fire.

This it’s time from Bishop Robertus Mutsaerts, auxiliary of Den Bosch in Holland, who criticises Pope Francis for only inviting “progressive� bishops to the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon.

Bishop Mutsaerts also feels that Jesus has been downgraded to a “hippie� and that more importance has been given to “hugging trees�.

Does the bishop not realise trees have more right to be on this planet than human beings? After all, they have preceeded us by 350 million years. But more importantly, they play a crucial part in all living creatures’ lives, including those of the two-legged human creature.

Spanking editorial gets it very wrong

I

NORMALLY really admire your editorials, but certainly do not admire or agree with that of October 2, entitled, “The outlawing of spanking�.

While I strongly disagree with the ill-treatment of children (and there is all too much of it at present), I don’t agree with the passing of yet another idiotic law, which will be obeyed only by good, law-abiding parents.

Laws mean nothing to people who don’t understand discipline. For example, we live in what is considered a good area of Knysna, but on three occasions last week had our Wendy house robbed, possessions on our veranda stolen, and attempts made to break into our house.

I must get a copy of the law stating that this wrong and nail it to my door. That should stop them!

I have been married to a wonderful woman for over 64 years and we had three children. I cannot remember ever spanking them, but they knew very well it was always possible. In any case, their teachers used the cane freely, with our support.

What this new law will achieve, and with your support, is a further destruction of discipline and a breaking-down of what little law and order there is at present.

I can recall when women and children were safe in their homes and on the streets, whereas now crime is rampant and getting worse.

In fact, who takes any notice of laws at present? Just read the newspapers.

There is no truer saying than “Spare the rod and spoil the child�.

We also have the biblical quote, “Whoever fails to use the stick hates his child�.

You write that some scripture scholars suggest the stick or rod is a metaphor for that used by shepherds to guide sheep. I suggest such scholars, twisting biblical writings to

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mean what they want them to, be confined to prisons where they can usefully guide those who lack discipline and help them lead better lives.

Your editorial has helped me in two respects.

Firstly, it’s made me feel very happy I am the age I am, and will not have to live much longer with little or no discipline, consequently no law and order, and rampant assault, murder and rape. Despite all the talk, that will happen.

Secondly, I served for some years in the British Royal Marines where we were taught the meaning of discipline, and I now realise what valuable lessons they were.

Roy Glover, Knysna

Consequences of new discipline rule

C

HIEF-JUSTICE Mogoeng Mogoeng’s broad interpretation of “violence� as all “behaviour involving physical force intended to hurt, damage or kill someone or something�, in his judgment prohibiting spanking (October 2) has ridiculous consequences.

As a medical doctor it was once necessary for me to sew up a cut on the forehead of a three-year-old boy.

In this case, the boy’s parents could not afford an anaesthetic but I was able to sew up the cut without general anaesthetic or sedation, with his mother calming him. In state hospitals, where anaesthetics are not available for small procedures, children often need to be held down.

I first had to painfully inject some local anaesthetic into his skin

Keeping children safe within families

has been at work on our planet, harvesting energy from the sun where miracle upon miracle has occurred.

The people of the Amazon and many other indigenous people around the world instinctively understand this evolutionary process, but “clever� clergy from Europe seem to know best.

Pope Francis has thrown the cat among the pigeons, so to speak, simply because he was not influenced by European culture during his ministry.

Christianity is dying in Western Europe, yet the European hierarchy are determined to cling to old, antiquated doctrines, and are continuing to perpetuate the dogmatic, colonial ways of the old Roman Empire.

Patrick Dacey, Johannesburg around the laceration. The small boy would have chosen to avoid it, but it allowed me to be able to continue with the rest of the sewing pain-free.

I must ask, according to the child’s interpretation, did I intentionally hurt him with physical force? Absolutely I did. I did not do it by mistake, and the injection hurt him more than any hiding.

Chief Mogoeng’s judgment implies I am a criminal for helping this child—along with parents who spank their children.

Dr A Donkin, Somerset West

Wise sermons

I

WOULD like to agree with Glenn Ho of Cape Town (October 23) who recommended that good sermons be published.

I specially recommend the sermons of Fr Vic Kotze, who has for many years been based in St Francis Xavier parish in Martindale, formerly Johannesburg’s Sophiatown.

Even 22 years after I moved from that parish, I still recall some of his wise words. I still return there for Good Friday as his Stations of the Cross are remarkable.

Jeannette van Heerden, Johannesburg

Breathless homily

R

OY Glover from Knysna refers to some brilliant homilies he once heard (October 9), and I also remember a homily I once heard years ago in Knysna.

I forgot what was said, but I can’t forget what was not said. By that I mean the long pauses with which the homilist created such tension that the congregation, holding their breath in expectation of the next sentence and consequently suffering from oxygen depletion, could at the end only softly whisper, “Help�.

JH Goossens, Pretoria

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Organised religion needs to readapt itself to a planet that in the not too distant future may not be sustaining any life at all. Species are dying rapidly, but in religious circles it seems there are more important issues at stake, like refusing a Protestant spouse receiving Communion in a Catholic church. Is this what cardinals discuss when their active ministry years are over?

Perhaps so-called “learned men� have completely missed the point regarding divine revelation. We have elevated the Bible as being divine, but neglected to realise divinity resides in a 35km area from sea to sky, known as the “living zone�.

For three and a half billion years before Christians claimed the Gospel as their own property, God

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PERSPECTIVES

From the margins to the centre T Raymond Perrier HE sight of people from the Amazon with traditional clothes and instruments participating in a Mass in one of Rome’s grand baroque churches will be one of the defining images of this papacy.

When he was elected, Pope Francis joked with the crowd that the diocese of Rome had to go to the ends of the earth to find a bishop. At the synod for the Amazon, he was joined in Rome not just by other South American bishops but also by ordinary people “from the ends of the earth”.

The Church has been listening to these marginalised voices and thus challenges politicians and big business to do the same.

It made for a good photo opportunity but, as always with Francis, this was much more than just a media stunt. It was a visible reminder to the universal Church centred in Rome what being “Catholic” looks and feels like.

When I attended the canonisation of St Oscar Romero and others last year, I commented that the range of faces you see in Rome is a reminder of universalism. But the missed opportunity is that below those faces of many colours, all the men and women are dressed more or less in the same interchangeable clerical or religious clothes.

This is held up as a sign of universal consistency, but it is, in fact, simply the leftovers of a 19th century European style of dress.

For Pope Francis—and this is his challenge to us—a universal Church is not one that conforms everything to one norm but rather one that celebrates the whole of humanity.

The College of Cardinals—his primary group of counsellors and the men who will in time elect his successor—should therefore reflect this diversity.

So European and US cities that took for granted that their bishop would be made a “Prince of the Church” have been antagonised as Francis has gone out instead to peripheral places. He has, for example, appointed cardinals for the first time ever from 17 countries including Pakistan, Madagascar and Mali.

Pope Francis is reaching out not only to the geographic margins of the Church but

also to the social margins. He has not yet appointed a homeless man as cardinal (though odder things have happened in Church history!) but he has come close.

Faith and Society

N

ewark on the US East Coast, long overshadowed by its brash neighbour New York, now has a cardinal of its own: the Redemptorist Joseph Tobin was chosen, I suspect, because of his proven commitment to giving prominence to the issues of women, refugees and LGBT people in the Church.

And Michael Czerny, a hard-working and inspiring Jesuit priest—not even a minor bishop—found himself receiving a red hat in the recent consistory: so the people he has spent his life serving (people with Aids, refugees and migrants) now have a voice at the top table.

I had worked with then-Fr Michael in East Africa. When I met up with him in Rome last year for coffee he already had a very grand Vatican job—yet he was still so humble and grounded.

We have been blessed in South Africa also to have pastors who are not afraid to “smell like the sheep” (to use a Francis phrase). At the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban, which I serve as its director, we know that when we work with the homeless and with refugees, we do no more than continue in the pattern of our late archbishop.

His successor has shown the same qualities by taking a personal interest in the fate of street drug-users and allowing us to create the Napier Centre for Healing as his legacy project.

Cardinal Michael Czerny arrives for the opening Mass of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon in St Peter’s basilica.

(Photo: Paul Haring/CnS)

R

eligious leaders can fall into the same trap as their political counterparts and stop listening to the voices of the poor when they ascend to high office. But that is exactly the moment when they most need to listen—to ensure that those at the margins are invited to the centre; that the voiceless can have a voice.

Pope Francis clearly has an agenda beyond the sound bites and the selfies. He wants to bring the margins into the centre, in such a way that they become the new centre.

And if that sounds familiar, it is because that was also the agenda of Jesus the humble carpenter.

It is hard to see how any future pope could dress in ermine, or live in palatial apartments, or celebrate Maundy Thursday by washing the feet of hand-picked male altar servers in lace robes. Pope Francis’ actions are appropriately revolutionary—they turn around the perspective we had and force us to see things differently.

Inevitably there are many who do not like this. If the marginalised are now at the centre, they might use their voices to demand changes from those who thought they held the power.

Of course, in the Church you cannot say that you are against the poor, so the criticisms are more subtle: “It is not what he does but how he does it”; “He shouldn’t move so fast”; “It’s overturning important traditions”; “It makes us question things we should not question”; “That’s not what he really meant”.

Some are openly hostile to the pope; others instead attack those engaged in this ministry. So my other name-drop is that I had coffee recently with another hardworking and inspiring Jesuit priest, Fr James Martin.

I first met Fr Jim 20 years ago when I was exploring a Jesuit vocation and we were Continued on page 11

Nigeria reels from priest-killings Arinze K Joseph Ani ILLINGS have spread in most of Nigeria’s regions, originating from the nation’s northern part, since the emergence of the terrorism of the Islamic Boko Haram sect.

Alarmingly, in certain regions people no longer see murder as an unusual occurrence. But the killing of clergymen used to be the least common of these acts in Nigeria—until recently.

This year alone, at least ten priests have lost their lives in Nigeria in their service to humanity and God. Most recently (as I write), on August 29, Fr David Tanko was killed by gunmen while on his way to a peace meeting with fellow priests on how to resolve a communal crisis in Taraba state.

After he was killed, his dead body and car were set alight.

It began in January 2019 with the killings of two priests, along with parishioners, by Fulani herdsmen during an early morning Mass.

In March, Fr Clement Ugwu was shot and abducted at his parish within farming communities in south-east Nigeria. A few days later, Fr Ugwu’s decomposing corpse was found a few kilometres from his church.

In April, Fr Jerry, a visiting priest to a parish around Anambra, also in south-eastern Nigeria, was murdered. He was hung on a tree to make it look like a suicide.

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Letter from nigeria

Fr Paul Offu, whose gruesome murder in August sparked public protests by priests.

The popular, peace-seeking and Godsent Fr Paul Offu was murdered in a gruesome fashion on August 4.

He was loved by his fellow priests as a mentor, a friend and a spiritual father to many in the south-east of Nigeria.

H

is death provoked public protest by thousands of priests around the city of Enugu. Nothing like it had been seen before. The priests marched through the streets of the city and to the local government to register their protest with the governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

People were so shocked at the priests’ reactions that it raised attention all over the nation. (Watch a video of the protest

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at youtu.be/5vbj0b9GCPQ) “Nobody is safe now; we are no longer safe,” said Bishop Callistus Onaga of Enugu at the Requiem Mass for Fr Offu.

“We should always pray for peace of our people and land because we are not the only ones affected. We seem to be living in a state of anarchy, total breakdown of law and order,” the bishop said.

As a result of the priests’ protests, the US-based Africa Faith and Justice Network met with the Nigerian government to call for an immediate end to the escalating killings of the clergy.

Meanwhile, solutions to the frequent unresolved killings in Nigeria are nowhere in sight. In the first quarter of 2019 alone, according to police statistics, more than 1 000 people were killed and 685 others were kidnapped across the country.

Nigerian churches have a tradition of praying for peace in Nigeria. Every Sunday, during the post-Communion rites, many parishes say a “Prayer for Nigeria in Distress”, asking for peace and security in the country.

Pray for Nigeria and her Christians…

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Lessons From Luke

God is all about relationships

M

OST of us are familiar with Jesus sending out his followers “two by two” as it says in Mark 6:7. While Luke’s Gospel does not use the same phrase in the passages where Jesus commissions his followers (9:1-6; 10:1-12), the image nonetheless sticks in our minds.

Surely they strengthened one another in the task of announcing the kingdom and spreading the Good News that Jesus proclaimed and embodied.

In Luke’s writings, pairs of people often appear even if not in the commissioning scenes. Simply begin at the start of the Gospel and turn the pages to discover Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Mary, Simeon and Anna, John the Baptist and Jesus, Martha and Mary, Peter and Jesus, Jesus and Pilate, and the two disciples travelling to Emmaus.

Luke’s second volume, Acts of the Apostles, also prizes pairings as we encounter Ananias and Sapphira, Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, Saul and a different Ananias, Cornelius and Peter, Barnabas and Saul (Paul), and Paul and Timothy.

In all of these pairings, and in some that are less obvious, we find lessons about the importance of relationships, not just as an essential human connection but as an avenue of encounter with God who is with us.

In the context of human relationships of all kinds, we discover the value of shared joy and sorrow, the desire to grow in understanding, the need for ongoing conversion, and most importantly, we encounter Christ.

Just consider how significant it was for Mary and Elizabeth to lay eyes on one another during their unexpected pregnancies (Lk 1, especially verses 39-45). Elizabeth was surely the object of gossip in her hometown, having gone so many years without bearing a child and then becoming pregnant well past her prime.

And in Nazareth, the young and pregnant Mary could easily have been the cause of scandal.

Yet, in their meeting, there is sheer joy, giving testimony to the intervention of God in their lives, not just for their sakes, but for the sake of God’s people.

Their children, John and Jesus, would change the world.

T

he early bond of joy between Elizabeth and Mary surely remained with them even as their sons matured and their preaching stirred up fear from powerful leaders, even leading to their executions.

These two women are often depicted in later art and devotion rejoicing with newly pregnant women and their husbands, and giving comfort to those whose children are maligned, oppressed, or whose lives are lost.

A different lesson might be gleaned from the relationships between a follower of Jesus and a seeker. Examples may be found in the stories of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40) and Peter and Cornelius (Acts 10).

In both instances the apostles, Philip and Peter, take advantage of circumstances that will bring them into conversation and listening with people they do not already know, individuals who are foreign to them.

The moment of opportunity requires the apostles’ attentiveness, and the curiosity of the seekers provides an opening. In both instances, God manifests himself in a deeper understanding not just for the seeker but for the apostle.

Philip is able to share from his knowledge of Jewish sacred writing and in the process learns that God is being revealed to someone outside of his religious tradition. Peter is forced to respond to the needs of a Roman household where God has already arrived and poured out his Spirit.

Human beings are made for relationship, created to be in union with others. This truth was so obvious to the ancient Jewish writers that they told the story of creation with this truth at the core: humans are made in the image of God (Genesis 1 and 2), and God is all about relationship.

God communes with those who are his creatures, walking with them from the Garden of Eden, through the desert of Sinai, into the Promised Land, and to Babylon and back. The relationships between people formed along the way have the potential to reveal this divine intent.

Ultimately, God sends his Son so that there will be no doubt that God chooses to be in relationship with human beings, even to the point of dying and rising. n This is the penultimate in a series of articles on the Gospel of Luke produced by Little Rock Scripture Study and first published in the Arkansas Catholic.

8

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COMMUNITY

Children from St Patrick’s church in La Rochelle, Johannesburg, celebrated their diverse cultures together with parish priest Fr Jorge Guerra.

(Submitted by Dominique Byrne) Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha confirmed parishioners, including Buyeza Jwayi, aged 79, at John the Baptist church in Port St Johns.

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new altar servers were installed at Christ the King parish in Wentworth, Durban.

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Capuchin Poor Clare Sisters met with the youth of St Mary Queen of the Apostles parish in George, Oudtshoorn diocese.

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South African Catholics held nationwide rosary rallies on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, with over 1 250 groups participating. Parishioners at Our Lady of Good Hope church in Sea Point, Cape Town, gathered to pray and sing outside their church, entrusting the care of the country to Our Lady.

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About 5 000 Catholics from Polokwane diocese gathered at Mater Dei Pastoral Centre for the annual diocesan pilgrimage. The event was held under the Mission Month theme “Baptised and Sent”. Bishop Jeremiah Masela, supported by all diocesan priests, led the pilgrimage. (Photo: Corrygan Makgotho)

The Southern Cross, november 6 to november 12, 2019

LIFE

9

Church opposed abortion from early days This month marks the 23rd anniversary of parliament voting to legalise abortion.

PAuL DE MARCO reflects on why the killing of the unborn is intolerable to Catholics.

B

EFORE I formed you in the womb, I knew you. This beautiful quote from Jeremiah 1:5 shows that God loved us even before he formed us in our mother’s womb.

We also know from Scripture that human life is distinct from all other forms of life on earth because in Genesis it is written: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness’.”

So given the unique nature of human life, it is deeply troubling that there were an estimated 56 million induced abortions worldwide each year between 2010 and 2014.

It’s thought that one in four pregnancies around the world now ends in abortion.

Whenever this subject is raised in the media, pro-choice campaigners are quick to highlight cases where the mother’s life would have been in danger had she not had an abortion, or where there were foetal abnormalities, or where a woman had fallen pregnant after having been raped.

However, research suggests that these three categories combined account for only 3% of all abortions.

For example, in England and Wales in 2017 there were 192 900 abortions, of which 1,7% were carried out because of foetal abnormalities, the most common of which was Down syndrome.

So the truth is that nearly all abortions are carried out for purely socio-economic reasons.

Abortions in the UK can still be carried out up to 24 weeks, despite the fact that about 60% of all babies born prematurely at 24 weeks now survive!

‘Unspeakable crime’ Next year on March 25—the feast of the Annunciation—we will

mark the 25th anniversary of the release of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Evangelium Vitae. That document concerned the inviolability of human life, and part of his encyclical covered the practice of abortion.

“Among all the crimes which can be committed against life, procured abortion has characteristics making it particularly serious and deplorable,” Pope John Paul II wrote, adding that the Second Vatican Council defined abortion, together with infanticide, as an “unspeakable crime”.

John Paul acknowledged that Scriptures “never address the question of deliberate abortion and so do not directly and specifically condemn it”.

At the same time, however, Scriptures “show such great respect for the human being in the mother’s womb that they require as a logical consequence that God’s commandment ‘You shall not kill’ be extended to the unborn child as well”.

In light of the unanimity in the doctrinal and disciplinary tradition of the Church, Pope Paul VI declared that the Church’s condemnation of abortion is unchanged and unchangeable.

“Therefore, by the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors, in communion with the bishops—who on various occasions have condemned abortion and who in the aforementioned consultation, albeit dispersed throughout the world, have shown unanimous agreement concerning this doctrine—I declare that direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being,” Pope John Paul wrote.

Condemnation in Exodus It’s interesting that the accidental harming or killing of an unborn child is described in Exodus 21:22: “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court al-

Pregnant? need help?

the unborn child, which globally is now claiming the same number of lives as the entire population of South Africa each year.

Pope Pius XII described our modern attitude to sin in a radio address which he made on October 26, 1946, to the US National Catechetical Congress in Boston: “The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.”

Turn to Mary

A women carries a cross during an abortion protest in Cape Town earlier this year. (Photo: nicolette Whittle) lows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”

So it’s clear from this text in Exodus that the protection of the unborn child was enshrined in Mosaic law.

Abortion was also described by Tertullian, one of the early theologians of the Church, in chapter 9 of his Apologeticum, which was written around 197 AD: “In our case, a murder being

once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the foetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from the other parts of the body for its sustenance.

To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in its seed.”

Numb to killing Sadly, our society has become completely numb to the killing of

We often talk of the lack of positive role models in society, and when it comes to role models for mothers, we can turn to Mary for inspiration.

At Guadalupe in December 1531, Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego as an expectant mother, just about to bring the Son of God into the world. She was wearing a black maternity bow of the same type that the Aztec women wore to show that they were with child, called a nahui ollin.

Her womb was an inviolate sanctuary protecting Jesus, and so Mary is surely the perfect model of motherhood and also the protector of the unborn child.

This was affirmed by Pope John Paul II on his visit to the basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1999, when he entrusted the cause of life to her protection: “Grant to our homes the grace of loving and respecting life in its beginnings, with the same love with which you conceived in your womb the life of the Son of God.” So, what should our response be as Catholics when discussing an unwanted pregnancy with a friend or family member intent on having an abortion?

Of course we need to have great empathy for the person concerned, but our primary thought must surely be to protect the innocent life that she carries, and to gently guide her away from an abortion.

We should ask ourselves: “What would Jesus do in this situation?” and then call to mind the words written in Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” n Paul De Marco is the author of Fatima 2017, Bernadette of Lourdes, and Holy Mary of Guadalupe .

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The Southern Cross, november 6 to november 12, 2019

PILGRIMAGE

An image of St Eugène de Mazenod is displayed alongside one of St Teresa of Avila in Lourdes’ St Pius X basilica • The chair, table and quill of St Eugène in his study in Aix-en-Provence • The Madonna watches over Marseilles atop the basilica of notre Dame de Garde, the city’s highest point • France-based South African Oblate Father Bonga Majola explains the history of Marseilles’ St Mary Major cathedral, which was founded by St Eugène. (All photos: Günther Simmermacher)

Masses in France with a great saint In October a group of Southern Cross pilgrims travelled through Catholic France, and came up close and personal to the founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, as GÜnTHER SIMMERMACHER explains.

T

HE group of Southern Cross pilgrims to Catholic France in October had the privilege of receiving the Eucharist at the tombs of several great saints, such as St Bernadette Soubirous, St Margaret-Mary Alacoque, St Catherine Labouré and St Louise de Marillac.

But it is probably the Mass at the tomb of St Eugène de Mazenod in Marseilles which everybody will remember most warmly.

We spent two days in southern France getting close to the founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, or OMIs, who lived from 1782 to 1861.

Most Southern Africans don’t need to be told about the immense missionary work of the Oblates in our region, starting with Bl Joseph Gérard, whom St Eugène de Mazenod himself sent to South Africa.

South Africa’s greatest churchman, the late Archbishop Denis Hurley, was an Oblate, as were all of his predecessors in Durban.

There have been many Oblate bishops, including four who are currently serving (Archbishops Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg and Jabulani Nxumalo of Bloemfontein; Bishops Edward Risi of KeimoesUpington and Sylvester David, auxiliary in Cape Town).

Even the idea for The Southern Cross was co-hatched by an Oblate priest, Fr Leo Sormany of Durban, together with Fr James Kelly, a diocesan priest from Cape Town.

In short, the Oblates have done much to grow and shape the

Catholic Church in our region. So it was appropriate that a group of pilgrims from across the country should visit St Eugène de Mazenod during the Extraordinary Mission Month.

And it was entirely fitting that we should be guided in southern France by a South African Oblate priest, Fr Bonga Majola, who is based in Aix-en-Provence, the city where St Eugène was born and founded the OMIs. Fr Bonga was born in Nkandla, in rural KwaZulu-Natal—the very area which Bl Joseph Gérard found so difficult to evangelise. When he was posted to Aix not long after his ordination, Fr Bonga obediently but reluctantly moved from assisting at St Charles church in Victory Park, Johannesburg, to France.

Since then he has become fluent in French and used to the ways of the Provence, though he also yearns for home. So Fr Bonga was very glad to guide our group, as he had guided a group from Eldorado Park in Johannesburg led by his confrere Fr Paul Beukes a month earlier.

The priesthood’s gain was tour guiding’s loss: Fr Bonga was a superb guide. Of course, his love for the founder of his order was evident as he recounted for us the life of St Eugène de Mazenod.

Meet St Eugène Born into a wealthy family in Aix-en-Provence, young Eugène was quite impressed with the social privilege he grew up in, even as the French Revolution forced his family into exile to what is now Italy.

In Sicily he even adopted the affectation of styling himself a count.

After the family returned to France, for various reasons Eugène experienced a certain fall from the social and economic status to which he was accustomed.

At 25, on Good Friday, he had a religious conversion which would lead to his ordination in 1811.

After his ordination, Fr Eugène was granted his request to mission to those on the periphery of soci-

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tive plaques, placed in gratitude for the Blessed Virgin’s intercessions.

From the brightly-mosaicked ceilings hang mobiles of ships and aircraft, placed by survivors of seafaring or aviation calamities.

At the entrance to the basilica is a sculpture of the pietà—an image of Mary cradling the body of her dead son. It gives a stark contrast to the gilded Madonna and Child that looks over the city.

It is at the monument of Our Lady holding the crucified Lord where the missionaries prayed before descending the hill towards the port, and then sailing off to foreign lands to spread the Good News. Most of them never returned home.

Mass at saint’s tomb

The Southern Cross pilgrims with Frs Lawrence ndlovu and Bonga Majola OMI at the chapel of the Oblate centre in Aix-en-Provence, the city of St Eugène de Mazenod’s birth and founding of the Oblates. ety, instead of running a parish.

He ministered to prisoners, the youth on the fringes, and the poor.

But the mission work was exhausting him. So he gathered likeminded priests together and in 1816 founded the Missionaries of Provence, which a decade later would be renamed the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

The room in a house in Aix-enProvence in which St Eugène founded his congregation still exists. In it is the very table at which the OMIs were founded.

At the back of the room is a reliquary holding half of St Eugène’s heart. Behind it is a large map of the world, which suggests the scope of the Oblates’ missionary work but also symbolises the order’s wisdom that de Mazenod’s heart was “as big as the world”.

Our group had the unexpected privilege of having Mass around that table, in the presence of St Eugène’s heart, receiving the Eucharist from the saint’s own paten and chalice.

Fr Lawrence Mduduzi Ndlovu— our spiritual director who grew up in an Oblate-run parish and might have become an OMI himself had God not directed him to the diocesan priesthood in Johannesburg— asked Fr Bonga to lead the Mass.

Aside from being a fine tour guide, the young priest is also a superb homilist.

The Oblates spread out In 1841 St Eugène began to send his missionaries into the world.

The first of them were sent to Canada, to minister to the Inuits.

The OMIs were always ready to take on difficult missions, and missions to places like Southern Africa, Algeria and Ceylon followed.

Today the OMIs are working in 67 countries.

By the time the Oblates began their worldwide missions, de Mazenod was already in bishop.

It must be said that St Eugène’s episcopal ordination in 1832 was

an act of nepotism. His uncle, Fortuné-Charles de Mazenod, had been the bishop of the revived but troublesome diocese of Marseilles since 1823 and insisted that his trusted nephew be appointed to serve as what we would now call auxiliary bishop.

At his uncle’s retirement in 1837 (at the age of 88!), Eugène became bishop of Marseilles. The rough harbour metropolis—France’s oldest and second-biggest city—might have been only 32km from the more genteel Aix, but the two places might as well have been worlds apart.

As bishop, St Eugène was not popular with his priests and the powerful because his solidarity resided resolutely with the poor.

Even today there are priests in the city who don’t remember St Eugène fondly.

But the people loved him. Some believe that St Eugène was the model for the kindly Bishop Myriel in Victor Hugo’s great novel Les Misérables. He wasn’t—that honour belongs to Bishop Bienvenu de Miollis of Digne, who also hailed from Aix-en-Provence—but he might well have been.

The Guard of Marseilles St Eugène was also a builder of note. Most famously, he ordered the construction of the imposing basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde (Our Lady of the Guard) which presides on a hill over Marseilles. Built over 21 years starting in 1852, its bell tower is topped with a goldgilded statue of the Madonna and Child.

Notre Dame de la Garde was and still is the spiritual centre of Marseilles, a city that is now 40% Muslim. In November 1887, St Thérèse of Lisieux visited it on her pilgrimage to Rome. Today, fans of the local football team, Olympique, come to pray before big games, and politicians before elections.

The walls are covered with vo-

St Eugène didn’t live to celebrate Mass in Notre Dame de la Garde. He also didn’t get to celebrate Mass in the cathedral he commissioned, the Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure (or Mary Major cathedral), which is commonly called just La Major. It was built from 1852-96 on the site of previous cathedrals going back to the fifth century.

Facing the port, it is a beautiful church—but it is used only once a year, at Pentecost, and for the installation of bishops.

For the most part, the cathedral is a site of tourism. “It’s like a museum,” Fr Bonga told us. That is the threat so many other churches in Europe are facing as well.

But it is also a site of pilgrimage for people like our group, for a chapel in the cathedral holds the tomb of St Eugène de Mazenod. He might not have celebrated Mass in the cathedral, but he rests beneath an altar—and we had Mass there.

Every pilgrimage has one or two Masses that just stand out from the others, that touch the spirit in its deepest recesses—and you just know that everybody else feels the same. This Eucharistic celebration, at the tomb of St Eugène, was such a Mass.

Our singing attracted tourists to spectate (not for the last time), and Fr Lawrence preached an inspiring homily (not for the first or last time). The lectors at the Mass were representatives of archdioceses with a long presence of the Oblates.

For the bidding prayers, Fr Bonga handed each member of the group candles bearing the image of St Eugène. These were then placed with our silent intentions on the altar, above St Eugène’s tomb.

At the end of the Mass, Fr Bonga raised his Oblate cross. In his congregation, it is a custom that new priests receive the cross owned by a deceased predecessor to signify that the mission continues.

Fr Bonga’s cross used to belong to Fr Allard Mmako, an Oblate who was murdered in 2009 at the age of 42 by hijackers in Nelspruit. He had been an influence on both Fr Bonga and Fr Lawrence.

At the end of the Mass, Fr Lawrence blessed the group with the cross of the slain Oblate, a blessing which interweaved St Eugène, the worldwide mission he founded, and the South African Church.

Next week: A visit to Lourdes

The Southern Cross, november 6 to november 12, 2019

Br Martin Thompson OFM

F

RANCISCAN Brother Martin Thompson died on September 29 in Ireland.

He was born as George Thompson in Dublin on November 4, 1934, and after his education at Belvedere College, entered the film industry, becoming manager of the old Grafton Cinema in Dublin.

After some time and soulsearching, he quit his lucrative job and joined the Franciscans.

He now became Br Martin, after one of his favourite saints, St Martin de Porres. He made his first profession as a friar on the feast of St Francis of Assisi on October 4, 1964.

After a short period in Ireland he was sent to the Irish College of St Anthony in Louvain, Belgium. This historic college was founded in 1607

by Friar Florence Conry to educate future Irish Franciscans.

It was the time of “priest hunters” in Ireland when spies were paid money by the British colonial authorities to report Church and priestly activities.

Br Martin helped in the establishment of an Englishspeaking parish in the Kraainem suburb of Brussels.

At the same time he was teaching catechetics at an Americanrun school in Brussels.

Eventually he came to South Africa where his first assignment was at Reiger Park, Boksburg, where he was an assistant friar to Fr Stan Brennan OFM. In that capacity he was part of the development and growth of both St Anthony’s Adult Education Centre and St

Francis parish during the last years of apartheid.

Br Martin was very involved in parish ministry, including with altar servers and youth.

Seeing the devastation of overindulgence in alcohol, he established the Pioneers Total Abstinence Association. It’s still there although the “total abstinence” part might have been modified here and there.

Br Ashley Tillek, who presently works with the South African Bishops’ Conference, owes his vocation to Br Martin’s ministry, as does Deacon Isaac Thomas.

After nearly ten years of generous service to the people of Reiger Park, the newly formed South African Franciscan vice-province called on Br Martin to lead young Franciscan students at the St Francis House of Studies outside Pretoria—euphemistically called “the Kraal”.

There he imparted an appreciation for classical music and introduced students to the wonders of Mother Nature, preparing them well in ad-

vance for Laudato Si’.

They liked him for other reasons, too: as bursar he happily spent money, to the delight of students accompanying him to the shops, who suddenly had so many needs!

Poor Clare sisters passing from Namibia to Malawi or Zambia found him a caring and gentle host.

In his younger days Br Martin loved taking guests on tours of wildlife areas. It was awesome to be with him on a slow, meandering drive through a safari park. He was so knowledgeable about animal activity and made being his companion a great pleasure and an unforgettable experience.

As if that wasn’t enough, he loved astronomy too and could vividly explain the surrounding universe like an enthusiastic guide from the Johannesburg planetarium.

Because of his love for the Brotherhood, in religious life he set up a brothers’ association in South Africa and ran it with remarkable enthusiasm.

Alas, on taking a well-deserved holiday in his native Ireland in 2009, for medical reasons Br Martin was advised not to return to South Africa and his beloved Kraal!

As a result, he spent his declining years at the Franciscan Abbey in Galway where he regularly received South African visitors with warm hospitality.

His final days were spent in a retirement home.

Br Martin was buried from the Abbey.

By Paddy Noonan OFM

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PrAYerS

O HOLY VIrGIN, in the midst of your days of glory, do not forget the sorrows of this earth. Cast a merciful glance upon those who are suffering, struggling against difficulties.

Have pity on those who love

each other and are separated.

Have pity on our rebellious hearts. Have pity on our weak faith. Have pity on those we love. Have pity on those who weep, on those who pray, on those who fear. Grant hope and peace to all. Amen.

MOST HOLY LOrD, I see your works here on earth. I stand amazed at the beauty before me. Thank you for my joy that is not claimed by life’s sadness and disappointments. I thank you for keeping me in your wings of love. you are so very precious to me and I will forever be yours in faith and hope. Blessed be your name in all of the earth, I pray. Amen.

From the margins to the centre Continued from page 7 connected by our common experience of corporate life in New York.

Fr Jim has been in the news because he has been challenging Catholics—priests, bishops and parishes—to ask themselves hard questions about how we minister to the marginalised LGBT Catholics in our midst. His humble suggestion—and the title of one of his books—is that we need to be “Building Bridges”.

I was saddened when he told me of some of the deeply personal attacks that have been directed at him, usually from within the Church. I am reluctant to compare all attacks to “lynching”, but it struck me that Twitter has some similarities with how this heinous crime was allowed to perpetuate.

Tweeters reject the measured approaches of a judicial system or a counter-argument, and instead directs their hatred to a specific person; they do so in a way that is designed to stir up others to join in, and then they wash their hands of the consequences.

64 Years Ago: November 9, 1955

E

very week for the duration of our 100th year, we dig an old issue of The Southern Cross out of our vaults, and highlight a few stories from that edition, as well as reproducing its front-page.

Save the Schools Campaign The national campaign to save the Catholic schools system from closure due to government policy has already exceeded the initial target of 500 000 pounds by 100 000 pounds.

Princess Margaret’s sacrifice Catholics and millions of other Christians throughout the British commonwealth are rejoicing at Princess Margaret’s decision to put the sanctity of marriage and duty to the Church of England and country before her personal wish to marry Captain Peter Townsend, a divorced man.

But Fr Jim has also received recognition of his work from Pope Francis himself.

After all, this pope knows personally that those who fight for people on the margins will themselves be attacked.

Fr Jim shared with me the consolation of being invited recently for a 30-minute private audience with the pope who was “attentive, welcoming and warm” as he listened to him explain first-hand about this ministry.

The Synod for the Amazon and other controversial initiatives of Pope Francis have shown that “you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs”. This should not put us off but rather give us strength for the mission.

The pope’s leadership can be an inspiration and a challenge to us in our parishes to look at how we can reach out to those at the margins, knowing that it is not always easy.

In our Christian mission to comfort the afflicted, we should know that we are also likely to afflict the comforts of others and of ourselves.

Liturgical Calendar Year C – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday November 10, 32nd Sunday of the Year 2 Maccabees 7: 1-2, 9-14, Psalm 17: 1, 5-6, 8, 15, 2 Thessalonians 2: 16–3, 5, Luke 20: 27-38 Monday November 11, St Martin of Tours Wisdom 1:1-7, Psalm 139:1-10, Luke 17:1-6 Tuesday November 12, St Josaphat Wisdom 2:23--3:9, Psalm 34:2-3, 16-19, Luke 17:7-10 Wednesday November 13 Wisdom 6:1-11, Psalm 82:3-4, 6-7, Luke 17:11-19

Thursday November 14 Wisdom 7:22--8:1, Psalm119:89-91, 130, 135, 175, Luke 17:20-25 Friday November 15, St Albert the Great Wisdom 13:1-9, Psalm 19:2-5, Luke 17:26-37 Saturday November 16, Ss Margaret of Scotland and Gertrude Wisdom 18:14-16; 19:6-9, Psalm 105:23, 36-37, 42-43, Luke 18:1-8 Sunday November 17, 33rd Sunday of the Year Malachi 4:1-2 (3, 19-20), Psalm 98:5-9, 2 Thessalonians3:7-12, Luke 21:5-19

St Josaphat

St Albert the Great

Death of leading student chaplain Franciscan Father Didacus Connery, the leading figure in the South African Catholic student movement and one of the keenest intellects in the country, has died at 44.

Editorial: Grateful to non-Catholics In his editorial, Fr Louis Stubbs notes: “One of the most pleasing features of the campaign to save our schools has been the favourable reaction to it in many non-Catholic circles. Catholics have every reason to be deeply grateful, under God, to their non-Catholic neighbours for so much encouraging goodwill.”

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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

33rd Sunday: November 17 Readings: Malachi 4:1-2 (3:19-20), Psalm 98:5-9, 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12, Luke 21: 5-19

W

E often get the feeling, normally after seeing the news or reading the paper, that our world is in an impossible mess; but our task is to see God at work in whatever form the disaster appears to be taking. And if that is indeed the case, then the disaster will not be terminal.

The first reading for next Sunday is from the prophet Malachi (which means “my messenger” in Hebrew), who is offering us a fairly chilling vision of “the day which is coming, burning like an oven, when the proud and all those who do evil will be stubble”.

Then Malachi expands the idea: “The day is coming, says the Lord, when there shall not remain for them root and branch.” But the disaster is not final, because God is in charge: “There shall be for you who fear my name the sun of justice, and healing in its rays.”

We may not fully understand what is being said here, but we can glimpse that there are grounds for cautious optimism.

The psalmist is never in doubt that God is at work; and our psalm attests the fact: “Make music to the Lord on the harp, on the horn and the sound of music; on trumpets and the sound of the horn, make a joyful noise in the

S outher n C ross

presence of the King, the Lord.”

Nor is it just musical instruments that are to add their contribution, for “the sea and all that fills it, the world and those who dwell in it” are summoned to enter the choir.

Remarkably he then makes a further invitation, hard to picture, but undeniably impressive: “Let the rivers clap their hands, the mountains together shout with joy.”

As always, it comes back to what God does: “In the presence of the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth; he will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples with fairness.”

Here we are at the heart of the matter.

The second reading for next Sunday is our final glimpse of the Second Letter to the Thessalonians. Here the audience are given a few tips about how to behave if they are to share the vision: “You know how you are to imitate us, because we did not behave in a disorderly manner among you; nor did we take food from anyone as a free gift. No—we toiled and laboured night and day, so as not to be a burden to any of you.”

The point here is that we are the community of God’s people, we need to look after each other; and that means taking seriously working

I

We instantly see the difference between false pride and genuine humility. We see how arrogant it is for the Pharisee to say: “Thank God, I am not like that man!”

But then, I would venture to guess that 98% of us hearing that story spontaneously nurse this feeling: “Thank God, I’m not like that Pharisee!” And, in doing that, we are him!

Exactly like him, we’re brimming over with our own sense of virtue and, because of that, we begin judging others.

Our prayer is in fact usually the opposite of the Publican’s prayer. We are not praying out of our own sinfulness, but rather pray: “I thank you, God, that I’m not as blind to self and as judgmental as so many other people are!”

It’s hard to be the Publican. Our very virtue and humility invariably coil back upon themselves and make us proud and judgmental.

W

Conrad

hat’s the answer? How do we break the vicious circle?

There’s only one way and the Publican shows us that way. How? He prays out of his own sinfulness, for real. He’s a sinner and he honestly admits it.

For our part, when we speak of ourselves as sinners, mostly we don’t really mean it! We admit that we have our weaknesses and that sometimes we do sin, but then, like the Pharisee, we’re immediately thankful that we don’t have the weaknesses and sins of others.

Mostly we think this way: “Admittedly,

‘Just because you’ve got the “Church Chuckles” book doesn’t mean you don’t need the backpage anymore!’

Sunday Reflections

for a living: “If a person does not want to work then they are not to get any food!”

News has reached Paul that the sinful refusal to work has even infected the Church: “We hear, you see, that some people among you are behaving in a disorderly manner, not working but sticking their noses into other people’s work.”

Such people are given clear and solemn instructions “in the Lord Jesus”: they are to “work with serenity and eat their own food”.

The Gospel allows us to witness the beauty of Herod’s Temple: “It was decorated with beautiful stones and gift-offerings.”

The earliest readers of Luke’s Gospel may already have known that it had been destroyed in the terrible war of 66-70 AD. At all events, Jesus tells these simple tourists that “the days shall come when these things that you are looking at, not a stone shall be left on another stone that shall not be torn apart”.

Naturally they want to know a bit more and ask him: “Teacher, so when will this be?

And what is the sign when these things are on the point of happening?”

Jesus simply warns them against over-

Why it’s hard to be humble T’S hard to be humble—not because we don’t have more than enough deficiencies to merit humility, but rather because there’s a crafty mechanism inside us that normally doesn’t let us go to the place of humility.

Simply put, as we try to be self-effacing, humble and non-hypocritical, invariably we take pride in that and then, feeling smug about it, we become judgmental of others.

Jesus gave us a wonderful parable on this, but mostly we miss its lesson.

We’re all familiar with the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. Jesus tells the story of two men standing before God in prayer.

The first man, a devout Pharisee, is a man who took the pursuit of virtue seriously and he thanks God that he’s devout and moral. And he also thanks God that he’s not as amoral as the Publican who is in the temple with him.

The second man, the Publican, recognises (honestly and without any rationalisation) that he is amoral, that he is a sinner, and, within that recognition, humbly asks God to forgive him for his weaknesses.

We know how Jesus assessed the two men. The Pharisee didn’t really pray while the Publican did. Moreover, the parable highlights the internal blindness of the Pharisee in a way that’s impossible not to see. Everyone hearing this story cannot help but see his lack of humility.

What’s challenging, however, is to examine our own reaction to the story.

Nicholas King SJ

God is always at work

credulity when “many people shall come in my name, saying ‘It’s me’ and ‘The time has drawn near’. Don’t go marching after them.”

So no matter how bad today’s news is, we are not to be afraid, even “when you hear of wars and terrible confusion—these things have to happen; but the end is not yet.”

Then he looks at how bad things will get (and we are not to check the signs from today’s newspaper, as we never know the full situation): “Nation shall rise against nation and empire against empire, great earthquakes, and in places hunger and plagues, and there will be fearful signs from Heaven.”

We are warned that we are likely to be arrested and persecuted and put on trial; but, he says: “Don’t worry in advance in your hearts how you are going to defend yourself.”

It will not be easy: “You will be hated by everyone because of my name.” And yet: the disaster will not be total, for “not a hair of your head will be touched, and by your endurance you will gain your lives”.

Are you feeling a bit better now?

Southern Crossword #888

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

I have my faults, but at least I’m not as ignorant and self-serving as that colleague of mine!” Or: “For all my shortcomings, I still thank God that I’m not as narcissistic as my boss!” Or: “I may not have much religious faith, but at least I’m not as hypocritical as so many of those church people!”

Or: “I may be a bit of a mess, but thank God I don’t have Jack’s faults!”

Pride is forever sneaking around our defences and keeping genuine humility at bay.

But there’s one instance when it can’t do that, and that is when we are genuinely acknowledging our own sinfulness. When we are truly standing inside our own sinfulness, like the Publican, then we judge no one—not even our own selves.

As a Catholic priest who has been hearing confessions for some 47 years, I can say without hesitation that people are at their very best when they are honestly confessing their own shortcomings. When we are genuinely standing inside the recognition of our own sin, we judge no one.

In that space we never think: “Thank God I don’t have Jack’s faults!” We know that our own suffice. Our prayer then becomes honest and, according to Jesus, it’s then that it’s heard in heaven.

And it’s precisely our sinfulness that we must existentially recognise and stand within. Our other weaknesses, our congenital and personal inadequacies, can be helpful in making us humble, but, since we aren’t personally or morally responsible for them, recognising them doesn’t do the same thing for us as does recognising our own sinfulness.

We aren’t responsible for physical or psychological DNA. We aren’t responsible for our ethnicity or colour. We aren’t responsible for the kind of family, neighbourhood and culture we were raised in.

And we aren’t responsible for what happened to us in the playpen and on the playground when we were little.

Yet all of these deeply impact both our weaknesses and our strengths. But since we aren’t responsible for these, ultimately we don’t have to be humble about them.

But we do have to be humble about our own sin.

AcRoSS

1. A child from Cuba, by heavens (4) 3. Diverging from the truth, bar a rent (8) 9. Lose one of the great virtues (7) 10. A thread of moral character? (5) 11. Most sacred place in the Temple (4,2,6) 13. One of the angels (6) 15. He can add coal to hell’s fire (6) 17. Memory of passing the plate around again (12) 20. Bathsheba’s husband (2 Sm 11) (5) 21. Note fisher rewrites for the law-enforcer (7) 22. Drink that may go to your head (8) 23. Move around in prison?

(4)

DoWn

1. Follower of ancient Asian thinker (8) 2. Herb has saintly name (5) 4. They appear with marriages and deaths (6) 5. You need one to win at the parish bazaar (6,6) 6. When school kids go to the tuckshop (2,5) 7. It’s you in the Hail Mary (4) 8. Not a minor biblical character (5,7) 12. Move the parish priest elsewhere (8) 14. Staggering while dancing (7) 16. Anchorage is to be found there (6) 18. The stupid one (5) 19. It is better to marry than to … (1 Cor 7) (4) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

A

N archaeologist, a priest and a biologist were discussing the search for Noah’s Ark. “I have faith that we will find it one day,” said the priest.

“Maybe faith will help,” said the archaeologist, “but you need my scientific expertise to locate it.”

“You’re both wrong,” sniffed the biologist. “I can guarantee that the ark will never be found.”

“What makers you so sure?” asked the other two.

“Well, Noah’s Ark included two of every animal, in which case the termites have taken care of the evidence,” replied the biologist.

RADIO VERITAS PILGRIMAGE

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