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‘King lives it up while the poor suffer’

BY ERIN CARElSE

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HE Justice & Peace Commission (J&P) of Durban archdiocese is calling on the KwaZulu-Natal premier to put the needs of the people over the needs of the king.

The Zulu royal household’s annual budget for the 2019/20 financial year is 9,2% of the province’s budget, which is an allocation of R66,7 million.

“What is appalling is the fact that the provincial government prioritises the needs and greed of King Goodwill Zwelithini at the expense of poor people. People have no adequate housing, no fresh water, nor toilets— yet the government still sees fit to give state funds of R66 million a year to King Zwelithini,” said Kalie Senyane, coordinator of the archdiocesan J&P. Premier Sihle Zikalala’s office is responsible for the Royal Household Trust, which was established in 2009 to provide financial support for the royal household, including the educational needs of the king’s children, the running costs of his seven palaces, and provision for his six queens, as well as official functions such as the annual Reed Dance.

Mr Zikalala has defended the expenditure.

“His majesty the king serves as a symbol of unity in KwaZulu-Natal and continues to be the custodian of Zulu culture, an important defining character of this province,” he said.

King Goodwill, who has been frequently

criticised for lavish spending, has maintained that he is entitled to the money as it is derived from taxes on his subjects.

“If you visit areas such as Inanda, Mayville, Cato Manor in Durban, Montebello north of Durban and Sobantu in Pietermaritzburg, you will see extreme poverty—all while the king enjoys splashing money,” Mr Senyane said.

“The government is failing the people,” he said, questioning whether it “is there to serve the needs and greed of the elite”.

He noted that in North West Province, the Batswana king “doesn’t receive a cent from the state. In turn, he gives money to the communities, and builds schools, roads and busses to bus school kids.”

“We need a king of that nature—not a king who expects the government to feed him and all his wives and children at the expense of poor communities,” Mr Senyane said.

He noted that the Church has been vocal in this regard. The KwaZulu-Natal Church Leaders’ Group, which is led by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, has questioned the amount allocated to King Goodwill.

“J&P stand firm and will continue to question the use of state funds for the king when poor people continue to sleep without a proper meal,” Mr Senyane said.

“Together with civil societies within KZN, we condemn the use of state funds for the use of the king’s palaces and posh cars. We call upon Premier Zikalala to do better.”

Pope Francis prays at the spot where St Francis of Assisi assembled the first Nativity scene in 1223 in Greccio, in Italy’s Rieti valley. During his latest visit there, the pope released an apostolic letter on Nativity scenes. (Photo: Vatican Media)

Pope: Set up Nativity cribs

BY CINDY WOODEN

A

NATIVITY scene is a simple reminder of something astonishing: God became human to reveal the greatness of his love “by smiling and opening his arms to all”, Pope Francis said in a letter on the meaning and importance of setting up Christmas cribs.

“Wherever it is, and whatever form it takes, the Christmas creche speaks to us of the love of God, the God who became a child in order to make us know how close he is to every man, woman and child, regardless of their condition,” the pope wrote in his apostolic letter Admirabile Signum (“Enchanting Image”).

Pope Francis signed the short letter during an afternoon visit to Greccio, Italy, where St Francis of Assisi set up the first Nativity scene in 1223.

When St Francis had a cave prepared with a hay-filled manger, an ox and a donkey, he “carried out a great work of evangelisation”, the pope said. Catholics can and must continue that work today.

“With this letter, I wish to encourage the beautiful family tradition of preparing the Nativity scene in the days before Christmas, but also the custom of setting it up in the workplace, in schools, hospitals, prisons and town squares,” the pope wrote.

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“It is my hope that this custom will never be lost and that, wherever it has fallen into disuse, it can be rediscovered and revived.”

At the heart of even the simplest Nativity scene, he said, there is a reminder of “God’s tender love: the Creator of the universe lowered himself to take up our littleness”.

Then, Pope Francis said, there is the fact that this baby is “the source and sustenance of all life. In Jesus, the Father has given us a brother who comes to seek us out whenever we are confused or lost, a loyal friend ever at our side. He gave us his son who forgives us and frees us from our sins.”

The magic of the season goes deep when someone—child or adult—gazes upon a Nativity scene, he said. And whether or not they can put what they experience into words, they come away knowing that “God’s ways are astonishing, for it seems impossible that he should forsake his glory to become a man like us”.

“To our astonishment, we see God acting exactly as we do: He sleeps, takes milk from his mother, cries and plays like every other child! As always, God baffles us. He is unpredictable, constantly doing what we least expect,” Pope Francis wrote.

“The Nativity scene shows God as he came into our world, but it also makes us reflect on how our life is part of God’s own Continued on page 4

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

Plus a tour of historic Split in Croatia.

Three countries in one tour!

2

The Southern Cross, December 11 to December 17 2019

LOCAL

What justice activist told glamour awards

BY ERIN CARElSE

come,” Ms Dewhurst said.

She started The Justice Desk in 2013 in response to the growing need for human rights education and training. It is based on the spirituality of Bl Edmund Rice, founder of the Christian Brothers congregation.

Ms Dewhurst recognised that systemic injustice was, and still is, preventing people from accessing their human rights, and she wanted to address this in a sustainable, community-driven and community-owned way.

Over the past six years, The Justice Desk has impacted the lives of over 220 000 people across South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“South African women are the unsung heroes of everyday activism,” Ms Dewhurst said in her acceptance speech.

“When we seek refuge in each other, we feed the fuel needed to

T

HE Catholic founder and CEO of The Justice Desk received an award at Glamour magazine’s 10th annual Glamour Women of the Year Awards.

The Glamour Women of the Year Awards honours and celebrates women who are “the epitome and essence of everything glam and what South African women stand for”.

Jessica Dewhurst, of St Michael’s parish in Rondebosch, Cape Town, was named Glamour Woman of the Year in the “Goodwill and Activism” category.

“I chose to accept the award on behalf of the incredible women I have the privilege of working alongside, those who fight for the change they may not see in their lifetimes; in the hope that there will be a fair and equal future for generations to

keep up the fight. It’s the women who are the first to peacefully march; women who fill the courtrooms demanding justice; and women who are paving the way for our future children of this country,” she said.

“It’s the gogos, aunties, mothers, sisters, daughters, trans women…

It’s you, it’s me, it’s the women sitting next to you—it’s each and every one of us,” she added.

“Somehow men continue to try to convince us we are second-class citizens and weak. They build structures and systems of oppression to try to control and repress the power of women,” Ms Dewhurst said.

“For too long there has been a war waged on the bodies of women and the girl child. To those men, we say: Enough! You can try to cage us, but you will never break us.

“To our women, never forget that you are a warrior, among a powerful

Cape Town Catholic Jessica Dewhurst received the Glamour magazine Woman of the Year Award in the “Goodwill and Activism” category. sisterhood of South African women who have gone before you. Your power is stronger than you know.

Please, never, never, ever give up— because we need you now more than ever,” Ms Dewhurst said.

Lay view of SA Church’s 200 years

BY ERIN CARElSE

I

An ecumenical prayer meeting was led at Constitution Hill, Pretoria, by St Anne’s Sodality. Among other things, the women prayed for an end to gender-based violence and appealed for religious instruction and prayers to be reinstated in schools.

A memorandum signed by various sodalities and organisations was handed to Gauteng finance MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko who represented Premier David Makhura. Ms Nkomo-Ralehoko commended the women for the initiative and undertook to take the memorandum to relevant parties. Furthermore, she said she would facilitate a meeting with the organisers so that an action plan is developed and implemented.

(Photo: lerato Mohone)

N a new book, a Johannesburg Catholic offers a guide he hopes will help readers better understand the Church’s journey.

The Catholic Church—200 Years in Southern Africa: The Six Transitional Phases by Marumagae Moshe (pictured) is published by SA Catholic Online Books.

The book is a perspective from a layperson, Mr Moshe said.

“It’s designed to be a handbook for assessing our performance against the Johannesburg Synod in 2009 and SACBC Pastoral Plan 1988 documents. It shares bestpractices for vision and mission formulation, and development of parish year-plans,” he said.

The Maryvale parishioner said he was motivated to write the book after realising last year’s bicentennial celebrations of the Church in South Africa had little mention of contemporary history.

“There are parallels that I have drawn between the six transitional phases in the Catholic Church and the political history of South Africa. The transitional phases are both strategic and generic in nature, which members of other

Christian denominations will identify with,” Mr Moshe explained.

The book is divided into three sections: an analysis of the Church’s 200 year in South Africa; a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis to learn from history and understand the current situation; and scenario planning for the future Church.

Each chapter has an appendix, titled “Invitation to share and act”, with questions to guide readers, individually or in a group, to reflect on the chapter’s important insights.

Mr Moshe suggested that the book be read with a pen and paper for readers to scribble their own stories and contribution to building South African and the Catholic Church in Southern Africa.

He sees his book as improving the image of the Church.

“I give the broad vision and mis-

sion of Christians, and Catholics in particular. I state the distinctive characteristics of the Catholic Church,” Mr Moshe explained.

“We are appealing to ordinary South Africans, Catholic and nonCatholic, to engage with and critique the Catholic Church,” he said, adding that he wants Catholics to be the authors of their own history, to see the role they have played in the Church and its impact on their lives. “The Church belongs to them,” he said.

Mr Moshe is the chair of Why Catholic/Renew Africa group, a Justice and Peace member, and chair of PFC finance subcommittee and vicechair of Men’s Forum at Our Lady of the Wayside in Maryvale.

He grew up in St Peter Claver parish in Pimville, Soweto, where he was tapped as a young man to lead the parish finance committee.

Mr Moshe graduated with a commerce degree from Vista University.

The Catholic Church—200 Years in Southern Africa, The Six Transitional Phases is sold as a hardcover at R190 and is available at Pauline’s Books & Media; or as orders placed directly at marumagaemoshe @gmail.com n The book is reviewed on page 10.

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The Southern Cross, December 11 to December 17, 2019

LOCAL

3

New Dominican Youth Movement powers ahead

BY ERIN CARElSE

A

NEWLY-FORMED Dominican Youth Movement (DYM) will have a busy few months ahead of joining its international counterparts at a July 2020 assembly in Kenya.

The DYM, a global movement that was started in 1996 through the approval of the master of the Dominican Order, brings together youth who are interested in Dominican spirituality, but without intending to enter religious life.

It is one of the channels of introducing young people to Dominican spirituality, promoting vocations and recruiting lay Dominicans.

In South Africa, the DYM is active in two provinces led by Dominican Sisters.

Sr Nobulali Bulurelo of the King Dominicans and Sr Columbia Fernandez of the Cabra Dominicans lead the DYM in the Eastern Cape.

In KwaZulu-Natal, the move-

ment is led by Montebello Dominican Sisters Valentine Dladla, Veritas Zikalala and Antonia Mdabe.

Members, from 13-35 years of age, are drawn from Dominican schools and parishes, from universities, and from other apostolates in which the Dominicans are engaged, such as the Association of Catholic Tertiary Students.

The DYM also welcomes all who are moved by the spirituality of St Dominic and are attracted to the four pillars of the order: study, prayer, common life, and preaching.

At the DYM’s first national assembly in Johannesburg in October, participants focused on Dominican spirituality and social issues affecting youth in the world today.

The DYM is committed to the promotion of preaching in action through the example of members’ involvement in service projects and other youth-development missions.

Its plans and efforts will also focus

The new Dominican Youth Movement in South Africa is gearing up to travel to the 2020 assembly in Kenya. on acknowledging and celebrating diversity by highlighting the numerous cultures part of its youth group and communities at large.

The DYM also intends to empha-

sise Dominican values so young people can understand, live and celebrate the order’s charism.

DYM members are now planning fundraisers for the 2020 as-

sembly in Kenya.

There, members will have an opportunity to meet other Dominican youth from across Africa.

The assembly will also be addressed by the new master-general of the Dominican Order, Fr Gerard Francisco Timoner, elected at this year’s general chapter of the order.

Members have been asked to design a logo for their trip as part of a competition to showcase creativity.

To prepare for Advent and Christmas, the DYM held a weekend retreat from November 29 to December 1 in East London, facilitated by Sr Fernandez.

Events and dialogues on issues affecting youth in the country are also planned, with discussions on the issue of depression among youth being a priority, as highlighted in the DYM’s October meeting. n For more information or to join the Dominican Youth Movement, contact Sr Veritas Zikalala OP on 072 114-2823.

CPLO hosts Eskom unbundling talks Bible Society of SA launches

BY ERIN CARElSE

T

HE Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO) hosted a roundtable discussion entitled “Eskom Unbundling Explained” to discuss looming issues around the state-owned enterprise.

Panellists were Phakamile Hlubi of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA); Hilton Trollip, an independent researcher on energy policy; and Makgola Makololo, a Department of Public Enterprises deputy director-general.

Eskom is facing serious financial and institutional issues, which government has acknowledged. The decision to unbundle it into three state-owned entities—generation, transmission, and distribution—is an attempt to address the crisis.

Ms Hlubi said NUMSA is against unbundling, seeing this as a gateway to privatisation, threatening jobs.

She added that NUMSA understands Eskom needs to move from coal towards renewable energy, and that investment in coal-generated

electricity will continue to decline.

However, she said, there needs to be a plan with steps to maintain people’s jobs and re-skill people for work in alternative sectors.

“Private markets do not hold the interests of the public at their core, and therefore NUMSA advocates for a public electricity utility owned by the state with a mandate to serve the people,” Ms Hlubi said.

NUMSA proposes establishing an Eskom board of civil society, labour, business and state representatives to ensure transparency, accountability and good governance in the utility.

Mr Trollip said Eskom’s current business model compromises transparency. “The utility is dominant in coal-contracting and has most of its power stations close to mines supplying coal, leaving very limited space for outside influence,” he said.

Mr Trollip said separating the entity into three components would allow for diversified energy generation, avoiding relying on one supplier to ensure energy security.

He said competitive power gen-

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Mr Trollip emphasised the importance of distinguishing between governance and ownership, noting that Eskom needs good governance, whether by the state or private sector.

Ms Makololo outlined that Eskom faces liquidity challenges; struggles to maintain operational stability; bears cost overruns and poor performance from Medupi and Kusile power stations; and is dealing with corruption within.

She noted that some of the financial challenges which led to the current crisis are the cost of maintaining employees, increased by employee benefits over time; the cost of coal, which has grown significantly while still producing the same amount of energy; and the costs of many municipalities not paying for the electricity they consume.

Restructuring Eskom has to be guided by sectoral transformation, a just transition process, and financial sustainability, Ms Makololo said.

new text for deaf community

T

HE deaf community of South Africa, especially those who use English language as well as Sign Language, now has greater access to the Word of God thanks to a new Bible launched by the Bible Society of South Africa (BSSA).

The Bible for the Deaf was launched at St George’s Anglican cathedral in Cape Town. It was specifically developed, together with the deaf, for the deaf. This is also the first English translation of the Bible done by the BSSA. The translation, started in 2011, is written in deaf-oriented English for those who use Sign Language as their primary means of communication and struggle to understand the language of other English Bible translations formulated for hearing people.

“Since people learn spoken language primarily through imitation and verbal communication, people who are born deaf have specific language and reading needs,” said Rev

Dirk Gevers, BSSA chief executive.

Dr Rocco Hough, a specialist in language use for the deaf, was the project leader and exegete. The team included Christopher Mongezi Galada, a deaf person who collaborated as a translator; source-text (Hebrew and Greek) specialists; an Englishlanguage expert; and deaf people in South Africa and Africa who tested the translation’s comprehensibility.

Because Sign Language is the mother tongue for most deaf people, a visual Bible in South African Sign language, in particular one understandable across the different versions of Sign Language spoken, is also very much needed. For this reason the BSSA is partnering with Hands with Words in its South African Sign Language (video format) Bible project. This is a longterm project, and the Bible for the Deaf is complementary to it. n The Bible for the Deaf is available at R249 from www.biblesociety.co.za

4

The Southern Cross, December 11 to December 17, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

Scripture priest is a social media sensation U

BY MANuEl RuEDA

NDERSTANDING the Bible can be challenging, but Catholics in Venezuela are becoming more familiar with Scripture through the work of a techsavvy friar.

Capuchin Franciscan Father Luis Antonio Salazar is breaking with traditional ways of preaching and bringing the Gospel to thousands of cellphone users each week through an Instagram video series called “Vivir el Evangelio” or (“Living the Gospel”).

In the one-minute videos, the robed priest waves his arms and points his finger to the sky as he discusses key passages of the New Testament with the help of electronic music and special effects.

Fr Salazar, 34, describes himself as a “Catholic influencer”. He started posting videos to Instagram in 2018, after a 19-year-old member of his parish convinced him it would be a good idea and offered to help with the editing and special effects.

Each video gets thousands of views and hundreds of comments.

And in a year, Fr Salazar’s account( (@Flas7.0) has grown from 5 000 to more than 120 000 followers.

“The motive behind this is to help people understand the Gospel” said Fr Salazar, who celebrates Sunday Mass at Our Lady of Chiquinquira church, the largest church in Venezuela’s capital. “I want to take those stories that happened 2 000 years ago with the Pharisees, the Scribes and the rest of

Capuchin Friar luis Antonio Salazar (right) greets a man in Caracas, Venezuela, who received a free meal at the Our lady of Chiquinquira parish.Fr Salazar hasbecome asocial media sensation through his videos on Instragram. (Photo: Manuel Rueda/CNS) the characters in the Bible, and show people what they teach us about being good Christians.”

Parishioners credit the videos and Fr Salazar’s energetic personality with bringing more people to the pews as Sunday Mass is now attended by hundreds of people.

But Fr Salazar said the videos have also helped him to connect with young Catholics in other cities and even in other Spanish-speaking countries, forming a “digital parish” to which he tries to tend daily.

“Recently a cathecist who I didn’t know reached out to me asking how to teach her pupils about Moses, Abraham and the alliance of

the people of Israel with God,” he said.

Fr Salazar said he has also been messaged by people with problems such as depression and tries to provide them with prayers and guidance.

“I am approached with sensitive issues, so I have to answer all the messages myself,” he explained.

“I’m not just any influencer coming up with crazy videos.”

The Capuchin said the videos are part of a broader effort to make the Church more present in the lives of the Venezuelan people at a time when the country continues experiencing a harrowing economic crisis.—CNS

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Franciscan Father Rami Asakrieh holds a reliquary containing what is believed to be a small fragment of Jesus' crib in the Franciscan church of St Catherine, next to the basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank.

(Photo: Debbie Hill/CNS))

Pope returns part of Jesus’ crib to Holy Land

BY CINDY WOODEN

P

ope Francis has given a small fragment of Jesus’ crib back to Catholics in the Holy Land.

At the basilica of St Mary Major in Rome, experts from the Vatican Museums extracted a small fragment from the relic of what has been venerated as Jesus’ manger.

The relic, given to the Vatican in the seventh century, has been kept in a chapel under the basilica’s main altar.

Pope Francis gave the relic fragment to the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, which oversees the main churches and shrines associated with the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Describing the fragment as “a

small piece of the precious relic of the Holy Crib of the Child Jesus”, the Franciscans said it arrived in Jerusalem and was present during a Mass celebrated by the nuncio, Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, in the chapel of Our Lady of Peace at the Notre Dame Centre.

After the Mass and time for people to venerate the relic, the Franciscan friars carried it in procession to the church of St Saviour, where they recited Vespers.

The relic was transferred to Bethlehem to be placed in the Franciscan church of St Catherine, which is adjacent to the basilica of the Nativity, “so that the faithful and pilgrims can worship the crib which received the beginnings of our redemption”.—CNS

Pope on the meaning of Nativity scenes Continued from page 1 life,” Pope Francis wrote. “It invites us to become his disciples if we want to attain ultimate meaning in life.”

Knowing that some families keep to the essential characters and setting while others add all sorts of characters, buildings, streams and towns, the pope said even “fanciful additions show that in the new world inaugurated by Jesus there is room for whatever is truly human and for all God’s creatures”.

But he focused in the letter on some key elements, starting with the starry night, the simplicity of the stable, and the poverty of the shepherds.

Giving the Nativity scene a nighttime backdrop, Pope Francis said, respects the Gospel account of Jesus’ birth but also serves to remind people of times when they’ve experienced darkness.

The crèche says, “Even then, God does not abandon us, but is there to answer our crucial questions about the meaning of life. Who am I? Where do I come from? Why was I born at this time in history? Why do I love? Why do I suffer? Why will I die?”

“It was to answer these questions that God became man,” the pope wrote.

“His closeness brings light where there is darkness and shows the way to those dwelling in the shadow of suffering.”

The simple shepherds, who were the first to go to the stable to see the newborn Jesus, are reminders that “the humble and the poor” are the first to welcome the good news, Pope Francis said.

“In a particular way, from the time of its Franciscan origins, the Nativity scene has invited us to ‘feel’ and ‘touch’ the poverty that God’s son took upon himself in the incarnation.”

A Nativity scene below the altar of the church of the Annunciation in Milnerton, Cape Town.

That, in turn, calls Jesus’ disciples “to follow him along the path of humility, poverty and self-denial that leads from the manger of Bethlehem to the cross”, the pope wrote.

“It asks us to meet him and serve him by showing mercy to those of our brothers and sisters in greatest need.”

Mary is a model of discipleship, faithfully accepting God’s will for her life and sharing him with others, inviting them to obey him, Pope Francis said.

Joseph, too, accepts the role God assigned him, protecting the baby Jesus, teaching him and raising him.

And, of course, the pope wrote, “when, at Christmas, we place the statue of the Infant Jesus in the manger, the Nativity scene suddenly comes alive. God appears as a child, for us to take into our arms”.

The whole scene, he said, reminds adult Catholics of their childhood and of learning the faith from their parents and grandparents.

Each year, it should be a reminder that the faith needs to be passed on to one’s children and grandchildren.

Standing together before a Nativity scene, in wonder and awe, Pope Francis said, is a simple way to start.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, December 11 to December 17, 2019

5

Fear after Christian Pope wants full unity with the Orthodox Church activist’s arrest in Egypt H P OPE Francis has voiced his desire for full communion between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

In a message to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, Pope Francis gave his “assurance of the unwavering intention of the Catholic Church, as well as my own, to continue in our commitment to working towards the reestablishment of full communion among the Christians of the East and the West”.

He noted that it has been 40 years since the establishment of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, created by Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Dimitrios I, and he thanked all those who have contributed to the commission over the years.

“The search for the reestablishment of full communion among Catholics and Orthodox is certainly not confined to theological dialogue, but is also accomplished through other channels of ecclesial life,” the pope said.

Catholics and Orthodox are already united through their one bap-

Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew I. The pope has said he seeks full unity with the Orthodox Church. (Photo: Vatican Media) tism and the one Holy Spirit guiding them, Pope Francis said.

He also pointed to joint initiatives to share the Gospel and aid the needy, voicing hope that both Catholics and Orthodox would work to “strengthen the daily dialogue of love and life” in these shared proj-

ects, and ultimately work towards reestablishing full communion.

“United in prayer to the Apostle Andrew, I renew to you and to all those present my warmest best wishes, and I exchange with you a holy embrace in Christ our Lord,” the pope concluded.—CNA

UMAN rights groups have voiced concern over the arrest of a Coptic Christian activist in Egypt on terrorism-related charges. Critics argue the arrest is an attempt to silence those who disagree with the government.

Ramy Kamel, founder of the human rights organisation Maspero Youth Union, was arrested by seven police officers. He faced charges of joining a terrorist group, publishing false news, and receiving foreign funding, AFP reported.

The prosecution issued an order for a 15-day-long provisional detention while the investigation is pending.

Mr Kamel had shared footage on Facebook of alleged sectarian violence in southern Egypt, depicting Coptic Christians being forced out by local Muslims, suggesting that local authorities had turned a blind eye to the violence. Mr Kamel’s Facebook page was deactivated after his arrest.

Human rights activists in recent years have warned repeatedly that Christians are enduring persecution and violence from Muslim

groups, and the government has neglected to act. Coptic Christians make up about 10% of Egypt’s Muslim-majority population.

Mina Thabet, a human rights activist and member of Maspero Youth Union, told the Middle East Eye that Mr Kamel had been threatened two weeks earlier by authorities, who demanded the activist stop posting these videos on social media or face jail time.

He said the arrest follows a pattern under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

“This is the typical approach by the Sisi government in branding all its opponents as terrorists,” Ms Thabet told Middle East Eye. “The Sisi government is waging a war against its opposition, rather than a war against terrorism.”

The arrest follows a recent crackdown on journalists and other dissenting voices in Egypt.

Earlier this year, Mada Masr, the only major independent media group in the country, said its office was raided by the authorities, who confiscated phones and laptops, and briefly arrested three employees.—CNA

Pope: Just call me Father

BY CAROl GlATz

A

17-YEAR-OLD Argentine student headed to a school picnic on September 21, 1953, the feast of St Matthew, Jorge Bergoglio felt compelled to first stop by his parish of San José de Flores.

It was there, speaking with a priest he had never seen before and receiving the sacrament of reconciliation, he was suddenly struck by “the loving presence of God” who saw him through eyes of mercy and chose him, despite his human imperfections and flaws.

This gift from a “God of surprises”, a God who offers unexpected, unlimited and unmerited mercy, would change the young man’s life.

Four days before Pope Francis celebrates his 83rd birthday on December 17, he will celebrate 50 years as a priest—a ministry he sees as being a shepherd who walks with his flock and yearns to find those who are lost.

He shares that anniversary with South African Dominican Father Joe Falkiner, who was ordained on the same day.

Even though Pope Francis served as bishop in Buenos Aires for more than 20 years, was elevated to the College of Cardinals in 2001 and elected pope in 2013, he has said: “What I love is being a priest.” That is why of all the titles he could have, I prefer to be called ‘Father’”.

Like Jesus and the early apostles, the priest is a missionary, and this was part of the reason a 21-year-old Bergoglio chose to enter the Society of Jesus.

“I was attracted to its position on, to put it in military terms, the frontlines of the Church, grounded in obedience and discipline. It was also due to its focus on missionary work,” he said in a 2010 booklength compilation of interviews with Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti.

But there is a balance the priest must juggle that incorporates Jesus’ compassion and that strong discipline, qualities he needed to do well both at school and at work, beginning with part-time jobs at the age of 13.

He swept floors in a factory, did administrative tasks, worked at a laboratory while specialising in applied chemistry in high school, and worked briefly as a bouncer.

The vocation of a priest, on the other hand, would be the exact opposite for Fr Bergoglio; it would be drawing people close, not tossing them out, and not worrying about getting dirty in the process.

“Priests who are—allow me to say the word, ‘aseptic’, those ‘from the laboratory’, all clean and tidy— do not help the Church,” the pope told Rome’s priests in 2014.

“Today we can think of the Church as a ‘field hospital’,” he said, because “there are so many people who are wounded by material problems, by scandals, also in the Church. We priests must be there, close to these people,” immediately treating those wounds with mercy before delving into the details.

A priest will reflect on and learn from his own mistakes, the pope has often said, and pray for the grace and courage needed to do what God wants, not what a

closed, cold or proud heart desires.

In his many interviews, the pope has acknowledged his failings as a priest, Jesuit provincial, bishop and pope.

But within Christianity, there is “a theology of failure”, according to a 1974 book with the same title written by Fr John Navone SJ. The book and its theology, which emphasised God’s patience, had an important impact on the future pope, who was going through a difficult, dark time after ending a six-year term in 1979 as a young provincial superior who struggled with stark divisions among his confreres.

It is only by recognising and admitting one’s failures, the pope has said, then seeing that God still awaits, still offers mercy and forgiveness like the father of the prodigal son, that a priest will be able to see familiar wounds in others and share, in turn, that same undeserved mercy.

It’s a form of “pastoral suffering”, he told priests in Rome in 2014. “It means suffering for and with the person. And this is not easy!”

At a time when the priesthood continues to suffer, most visibly with the scandal of abuse and negligence by its members, the pope has continually offered priests a hopeful understanding of their vocation.

Change, transformation and holiness are painful, but “the Lord is purifying his bride and is converting all of us to him. He is mak-

The Vatican stamp and coin office released these special stamps to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pope Francis’ ordination to the priesthood. (Photo: Vatican media) ing us experience the trial so that we may understand that without him we are dust. He is saving us from hypocrisy, from the spirituality of appearances. He is blowing his Spirit to restore beauty to his bride,” the pope told Rome’s priests in 2019.

In a letter to priests in 2019, he said, “Our age, marked by old and

new wounds, requires us to be builders of relationships and communion, open, trusting and awaiting in hope the newness that the kingdom of God wishes to bring about even today. For it is a kingdom of forgiven sinners called to bear witness to the Lord’s ever-present compassion. For his mercy endures forever.”—CNS

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The Southern Cross, December 11 to December 17, 2019

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Debunking myth of ‘pagan’ Christmas

A

T this time of the year, Catholics are liable to be lectured with the inaccurate notion that the celebration of Christmas on December 25 derives from an appropriation of pagan feasts.

Some Catholics have bought into that assumption as well, and repeat it in good faith. More often, however, it is trotted out by people who seek to delegitimise the feast of the Nativity.

In brief, the argument goes, the early Christians usurped the pagan feasts of Saturnalia (a celebration from between December 17 and 23 that culminated in human sacrifice but also included gift-giving and festivities) and Sol Invictus to create the feast of the Nativity, or Christmas.

Since some of the popular practices of the Christmas celebration—such as the now ubiquitous decorated trees or the use of holly—have pagan origins, the myth has a superficial appearance of plausibility.

Moreover, the feast of Sol Invictus—or Dies Natalis Solis Invicti—celebrated the birthday of the pagan sun god Mithra, whose holy day happened to be on Sunday (the Germanic rendering of “dies Solis” is where we derive that day’s name from).

For some of those who are already inclined to claim, absurdly, that the story of Jesus Christ is an amalgamation of diverse pagan myths, these coincidences serve as evidence. Their theory, however, is contradicted by historical fact.

The canonical dating of Christmas in the 4th century has no relation to these Roman pagan feasts.

The early Christians did not attach great importance to the feast of the Nativity. For the first three centuries of Christianity, the celebration of Christ’s birth had no official date or form. For the Church, the principal feast was, as it is today, Easter.

The celebration of the feast of the Nativity is first mentioned in a surviving document from 336, in the Roman Deposito Martyrum, before Pope Julius I (337-52) officially set the feast’s date on December 25.

That date most likely had already been widely accepted as Jesus’ “birthday”, based on the calculation of the Jerusalem

scholar Sextus Julius Africanus in 221 AD. That was a time when Christians were not assimilating pagan traditions into their practices. Indeed, the early Christians were prepared to be martyred rather than to submit to pagan observances.

They sought distance from paganism, not to usurp it. This changed only after Christianity had become the state religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century.

In the early third century, Africanus affirmed that the Annunciation should be dated to March 25, the northern spring equinox and the 14th Nisan in the Jewish calendar, which at the time was believed to be the date on which God created the world.

It was also believed that Jesus was crucified and died on the date of God’s creation and of his incarnation at the Annunciation: on March 25.

By simple arithmetic, if we add nine months to March 25, the date on which Mary conceived the Lord by the Holy Spirit, we arrive at December 25 for the date of his birth.

Importantly, the affirmation of the date of the Annunciation on March 25 by Africanus precedes the celebration of the Sol Invictus by half a century.

Of course, Scripture gives no indication as to when Jesus was conceived or born, since the evangelists’ concern was theology, not biography. We know neither the date, nor the season, nor even the year (though the latter must have been before 4BC, the year of King Herod’s death).

The references to shepherds tending their sheep at night would suggest that the birth of the Lord could not have taken place in the northern winter.

Speculation about the authentic date of Jesus’ birth can teach us a lot about the historical, social and religious context of Jesus’ time, but it teaches us nothing about the meaning of Christmas: the birth of God-made-human so that we all may be redeemed.

While we must correct the suggestion that Christmas in some ways usurped pagan feasts—with that assertion’s implied delegitimisation of the feast of the Nativity—it is this truth that we must keep our eyes on.

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.

Politics should have set standards for entry S TANDARDS are set for entry into every single profession and artisan trade across the world Applying the same principles, why is it that politics is the exception, and any loquacious Mary, Tom, Dick or Harry can direct the future of a country and, collectively, the progress of society, while lacking any test of their abilities to do so?

Plato, arguably the best mind in world history, argues cogently that early in their lives, political leaders

should be selected for their intellect, integrity and emotional balance.

There would be difficulties, flaws and problems aplenty in this qualitycontrol process, but over time (lots of it), the benefits regarding sane government would be significant.

In the short-term, a general call for, nay, public insistence on, political candidates’ proven emotional stability and intelligence could be effective, to some extent.

How about insisting on formal

I

than what they prefer in the bedroom. Enough already!

The fact that so many of us are really uncomfortable with this subject should be sufficient proof that our society has a deep-rooted problem with this and related sexual issues.

Could we please try to become a purer and holier people?

Maria Kruger, Plettenberg Bay

We urgently need engaging homilies

HAVE been reading a fascinating little book by Penelope Chetwode, entitled Two Middle-Aged Ladies in Andalusia, published in 1965.

Chetwode, a Catholic, describes how she spent considerable time exploring rural Andalusia riding a mule she had been lent. The author could speak Spanish, so whenever she could, she would attend Mass.

In one remote village, she found the sermon at the 7:00 Mass so interesting, she decided to delay her departure and attend the 10:00 Mass so she could hear it again.

The anecdote does show that far more could be made of homilies than is at present.

Our society is facing a serious lack of discipline and moral restraint, and our politicians are not setting a very good example. Consequently our religious and spiritual leaders should be taking the lead.

Regrettably, our beloved Catholic faith has moved from being oppressive to becoming passive, and now that people really need powerful and interesting guidance, they are not getting it.

In fact, if one looks around one in the various churches today, the vast majority of people attending Mass are elderly, so are churches any better than departure lounges?

Our Lord could gather huge crowds when he preached, so let’s have some homilies that attract the youth, and help and guide us all.

I have seen it done in a church in England by a Chinese priest, so I know it can be done.

Roy Glover, Knysna

LGBTQI issues: enough already

T

HE arguments around LGBTQI (the acronyms are getting longer) have been going on far too long. We could all agree that most of us are either male or female. That really is enough information for me.

Other than that, I am more interested in what people do or think

Science research: no gay gene exists

F

OR some time now, the topic of homosexuality has appeared regularly in The Southern Cross and I have often been tempted to respond, but haven’t yet done so.

I feel that someone with some genetic training should reply—and I’ve done a three-year course on genetics, a subject that has interested me.

Whenever I ask a young person, or not-so-young person, what their source of information and truth is, I almost always get told: “The media and the Internet”.

People seem to have forgotten how to read and seek the truth; to them the truth is what the majority think. This is a major mistake and, to me, one of the reasons for much of what society is today.

Regarding homosexuality or same-sex attraction, there is no genetic basis.

Professor Francis Collins in his book The Language of God states that homosexuality is “not hardwired by DNA”. Dr Collins is one of America’s leading geneticists and the longtime head of the Human Genome Project.

What determines the sex we are born to are our chromosomes. If we have an X+X pair we are female. If we have an X+Y pair we are male.

That cannot be disputed.

No one is born with an attraction to the same sex and it is not sinful to be a homosexual. As the Church says, we must always show compassion, friendliness and, above all, great love to homosexuals; if we don’t, we are the sinful ones.

What is sinful is to have a physical sexual relationship with one of the same sex.

PPE studies of politics, philosophy and economics as a minimum requirement for pursuing a career in the political arena?

This requirement does not discount the important characteristics of integrity and strength of character, or a sense of justice in all things.

At present, the only necessary qualities for public office are the gift of the gab to win selection to serve citizens.

Rex Glanville, Johannesburg Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy.

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

I am not going into the religious issues of the Church on this as the Catechism is quite clear. I find it so good and straightforward that anyone with a little sense of right and wrong can understand.

Regarding being born homosexual, studies based on identical twin registries give us a good idea as to whether we are homosexual due to our DNA. Australia alone has a bank of 25 000 twin registries and Europe 600 000. Dr Mark Ellis, quoting Dr Neil Whitehead, states that “eight major studies of identical twins in Australia, the US and Scandinavia during the last two decades all arrive at the same conclusion: gays were not born that way…Identical twins have the same genes or DNA…They are nurtured in equal prenatal conditions…If homosexuality is caused by genetics or prenatal conditions and one twin is gay, the co-twin should also be gay…”

Dr Whitehead continues: Samesex attraction is caused by nonshared factors; things happening to one twin but not the other, or a personal response to an event by one twin and not the other.

“For example, one twin might have been exposed to pornography or abuse but not the other….

“There are many other causes, for example, one of the co-twins feels that he is looked down on by an important person in his or her life, ignored by a parent, or one who cannot do what one of his parents or family members thinks he should; an over-strict and demanding parent and many other reasons.

(See YouTube: The Third Way) “These individual and idiosyncratic responses to random events and to common environmental factors predominate.”

Deacon Tony de Freitas, Durban

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PERSPECTIVES

When a parish wins the lottery Fr Chris I Townsend HAVE never won the lotto. I won a few rands in the distant past, and I suppose to win it, you have to be in it. But that doesn’t stop me dreaming about a big win...

I really struggle with parting with any money for tickets. Like a TV licence, playing the lotto is throwing good money after bad. The lottery’s dealings are just as convoluted, obscure and possibly dangerous in the long term as the SABC’s.

What I have experienced recently is a biblical-style jubilee: a large-scale remission of debt, motivated by nothing other than the love of God and of his Church.

Recently, the parish I moved into a few months ago was the double beneficiary of a donation that closed our loan account—a donation of R2,6 million—and the wiping out of a paper debt to our archdiocese.

The effect of this generosity is that now our community can focus on being and building Church, rather than spending our time and effort on the repayment of debt. There are really good and generous people out there in our communities!

In the early discussion of the Catholic Church’s position on the national lottery, our bishops chose to support the lottery as a way by which resources could be made available to communities and projects while acknowledging that we all want something out of our generosity.

What a colossal backfire this position proved to be! The lottery has enabled the state—which can’t decide if it’s a welfare state or a privilege reinforcement vehicle—to abrogate its necessary responsibility to the welfare of all to a rather obscure process to fund projects that should be in

the realm of the Social Development Department.

Of course, the Social Development Department has become the vehicle for all sorts of captures.

Anyway, even if the bishops’ conference had proclaimed the national lottery intrinsically disordered, no one would notice.

S

o, what does all this have to do with a parish?

What I think people notice is that parish communities—with their constituent families, prayer groups, sodalities, ministries and so on—can become effective vehicles for both local and outwardfocused charity.

With effective and organised programmes, the generosity that is so much part of our communities becomes channelled in a way that builds both confidence and accountability.

The national lottery has been of little benefit to society, writes Fr Chris Townsend, but the generous goodness of people is the greater win. (Photo: Dylan Nolte)

Pastor’s Notebook

It’s this space—call it Outreach, Caritas, St Vincent de Paul, whatever—that shows that the real lottery is not in winning but in being part of an effective programme that does what the Church does best.

By admitting that the state is not capable of covering all its responsibilities—be that as a result of lack of capacity, deliberately crushed and obfuscated capacity, incompetence, lack of vision, direction and leadership—it is the Church that takes up the heart for society, because we are in the heart of society and aren’t afraid to get motivated for local communities.

I worry sometimes that our parishes have become just another activity in our very busy lives, where weekends are often more pressurised than our weekdays, with family obligations, school stuff, socialising and myriad other responsibilities and distractions.

This busyness diminishes our space and time for the Church.

This is made that much easier when the church we attend is not a church we are part of. Where it is just theatre or spectacle or even dogged obligation is what keeps us returning, we have no effective and active mission, nothing that takes from our time and talent.

As Pope Francis pushes the Church to regain mission focus, we need to build a connection that makes our churches the centre of a universe of service!

What’s a real covenant with God? Ross L Ahlfeld AST month the evangelist Angus Buchan caused widespread outrage when he said that the Jews and the Afrikaners were the only two nations that ever had a covenant with God. After a storm of protest, Mr Buchan retracted this statement and apologised. It did little to placate the anger over comments which appear to appeal to a racist theology which excludes everyone apart from Afrikaners.

It is worth remembering that the apartheid system was founded on bad theology and toxic biblical interpretation, exactly such as that which earned Mr Buchan such a reaction of anger and disappointment.

Oddly, Mr Buchan is neither Jewish nor an Afrikaner. He is, like myself, of Scottish parentage (with a name like Angus, what else could he be?) Wearing a brimmed hat and working on a farm, a Boer doth maketh not.

A while back Mr Buchan was actually banned from speaking at a governmentowned hall by a Scottish local authority in his parents’ native Scotland because his views were considered to be intolerant and damaging.

At the time, his banning resulted in a debate in Scotland around what limitations we place on free speech.

Even so, this kind of faulty covenant theology is not unique to Mr Buchan.

There is a small number of UK-based evangelicals who still espouse a similar racebased theology known as “British Israelism”. It suggests that Britons are, in fact, a lost tribe of Israel and as such are entitled to special land rights and a Godgiven authority over other “lesser” peoples who do not enjoy God’s favour.

In reality, if any one group could legitimately make a claim to be the lost tribe of Israel, then according to expert geneticists, it would probably be the Lemba people—

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An “Ark of the Covenant” is seen at the Nissan Brothers shop in Bethlehem, West Bank. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher) of whom Bl Benedict Daswa was one— rather than Britons.

Indeed, the dehumanising language of exclusion inspired by religion is not unfamiliar to us Catholics in Scotland. The common west coast of Scotland expression, “We are the people”, for example, can best be translated into meaning Catholics are not the rightful people of God.

T

o be honest, who God’s chosen people are is very often dependent upon who is paying the preacher, who is being preached to, and who currently occupies whatever land we want. This is true from the White House to Johannesburg, from Jerusalem to Glasgow.

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Yet we Catholics are not immune to this constant temptation to create in-groups and out-groups; we too are capable of thinking of ourselves as “the elect”.

Take for example our own conservative and traditionalist wings and sects who, at the most extreme end of the spectrum, do not consider the Novus Ordo Mass to be valid nor Pope Francis to be the legitimate pontiff.

Also, consider the way in which adult converts who come through our parish RCIA catechesis programmes are sometimes made to feel by cradle Catholics like second-class Catholics—as if ancestry and blood ties were somehow more important than confirmation and baptism in Christ.

Of course, every club has its own rules and we do not belong to a Church which espouses either universal salvation or open communion. Indeed, does any truly confessional faith community of believers really allow its members to believe and act in whatever way they want?

This would be to indulge in what the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer described as “cheap grace”.

But maybe it’s not for us to say which individuals have placed themselves outside salvation—rather, this is for God to do.

As such, perhaps we’d be better served looking for positive expressions of covenant within our Catholic tradition?

For me, the most powerful examples of covenant to be understood within a Catholic context, are to be found in the theology of people like Br Roger of Taizé, Continued on page 11

S outher n C ross

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The Southern Cross, December 11 to December 17, 2019

7

Mphuthumi Ntabeni

The Public Square

In Advent, have hope for SA

T

HIS year will probably go down as one of the hardest in our national psyche. Its memory will be dominated by the dark incidents of gender-based violence, epitomised by the brutal murder of young student Uyinene Mrwetyana.

The worst part is that this was not just an isolated incident. Just recently, a student in Limpopo was stabbed—52 times—to death.

Inequality prevails. Numerous reports tell us that the top rich 1% controls about 84% of the world’s resources. And South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world.

Inequality is arguably the single best predictor of whether a country will experience high or low levels of crime and violence. It makes property crime more attractive and profitable for criminals; drives frustration, hostility and hopelessness among the poor; and undermines trust, community engagement and the functioning of social and institutional structures.

The elimination of all inequality is not, nor has it ever been, an objective of Catholic Social Teaching. Its insistence has always been on everyone having enough, rather than everyone having the same.

Catholic Social Teaching does not reject wealth creation, or assumes that “all property is theft”. It just says someone who has plenty of it bears a natural obligations to someone with none.

For instance, the teachings of the Church would probably laud the Motsepe Foundation efforts of donating R100 million to be used by faithbased groups towards solving unemployment.

Economically our country is on the edge of the abyss, with unemployment, especially among the youth, spiralling out of control.

Corruption in the public sector is unrelenting.

The national private sector is basically on an investor boycott. This all makes the goal of 3% economic growth seem unattainable—yet it is the only way the country can start, economically, to turn the page.

It is becoming obvious that the change of the driver in the ruling party does not mean the train has changed direction; it is still going wayward.

There’s hardly any good news when it comes to the palace politics of the ruling party, that beast with two heads which are eying to swallow each other to feed their own hunger.

T

he Rugby World Cup win gave us respite. It made us recall the rock of 1994 from which we were hewn. It felt again that we were a nation with a common purpose, determination and goals.

There were naysayers of course, like the red berets in their attention-seeking ways and crude acts of political vandalism attempting to rain on that parade. But the national wind blew the rain back on their trousers filled with looted lucre.

This was testimony that the majority of South Africans are still committed to our Rainbow Nation dream; they just want the Rainbow Nation to also fulfil the demands of justice.

It may seem like our situation, as a country, is hopeless. Yet this is exactly the situation when the hope of Advent is needed.

Hope doesn’t depend on evidence of improvement. Hope is the strength of faith, especially when the situation is hopeless—when even the language of logic has broken down, like seeing a symbol of victory in a naked crucified man dying on the cross.

The devil will always try to frighten us with the accumulation of ills. We dare not forget that on Calvary, Christ harrowed hell.

When we visit our personal, community or national Calvaries, we must remember that we go there not to die but to rise, like him. It is up to us, as we die, whether to scrawl excremental imprecations against God, or whether, in begging faith, to pray to Christ to remember us in heaven.

Currently, our best way forward is suggested by Patrick J Deneen on his seminal book, Why Liberalism Failed, a work that owes much of its visionary development to the Catholic Social Teachings.

The better course, Deneen writes, “lies not in any political revolution but in the patient encouragement of new forms of community that can serve as havens in our depersonalised political and economic order”.

He continues to say that only politics lived as a shared sense of common purpose, “with obligations and gratitude arising from sorrows, hopes, and joys lived in generational time, and with the cultivation of capacities of trust and faith―can begin to take the place of our era’s distrust, estrangement, hostility, and hatreds”.

It is not enough to hope or to have faith, we must also be the change we seek to see in the world.

Then and only then shall we see the option of a national spiritual revolution and reconciliation.

8

The Southern Cross, December 11 to December 17, 2019

COMMUNITY

Young people at St John Bosco parish in Westridge, Mitchell’s Plain, Cape Town, celebrated their confirmation. They are seen with (from left) catechist lucinda Permall De Wet, Fr Peter Nguyen SDB, Bishop Sylvester David OMI, and Fr Eddie O’Neill.

(Photo: Theresa louw)

St Anthony’s parish in Sedgefield, Oudtshoorn diocese, held a retreat for Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist at John Bosco Youth Centre in Dysselsdorp.

Seen are (from left) Bobbi Morgan-Smith, Fr Dennis Organsie, Paddy and Bernard Sheridan and Joan de Jager.

Nazareth Care (formerly known as Nazareth House) in Cape Town held a fundraising High Tea. Enjoying the occasion were (from left) Gloria linke of Green Point parish, Maureen Fernandes of Claremont parish, and Teresa Omodeo of Green Point parish.

Children at St Francis of Assisi parish in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, celebrated their First Communionon. Frs Tony Thouard and Paddy Noonan officiated and the communicants are seen with catechist Fatima Bordalo. (Submitted by Elaine Prosper)

The Kwazulu-Natal Catholic Nurses’ Guild held its annual retreat at Mariannhill Monastery. Guild members are pictured with their spiritual advisor, Fr Sbusiso Mkhize CMM.

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pics@scross.co.za

PRICE CHECK

Eleven young people were confirmed at St Matthew’s parish in Bonteheuwel, Cape Town. They are seen with Archbishop Stephen Brislin, parish priest Fr Peter ziegler and (right back) catechist Shanee Adams. (Photo: lan-Mar Photography)

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SA Catholic to advise pope on the youth P

OPE Francis has appointed a South African youth leader to serve on his newly-formed international youth advisory body.

When the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life announced the list of 20 young people whom the pope had appointed, it included Dominique Yon of Cape Town.

“My nomination came as a big surprise and I am honoured to have been selected,” Ms Yon said.

The 27-year-old has been actively involved in her parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Durbanville since she was nine years old.

She served as an altar server, and at 15 became the altar server coordinator.

Once confirmed, Ms Yon assisted the confirmation and Youth Alpha programmes as a group leader. When the parish started Life Teen, she headed the marketing portfolio while leading a small group. She was later made the coordinator.

Most recently, she started a young adults group called Encounter at her parish.

In January 2015 Ms Yon was invited to join the Cape Town youth chaplaincy team as the event coordinator. In that position, she has helped organise several archdiocesan and national events aimed at equipping and empowering the youth, young adults and youth leaders.

In January 2019 she was appointed the official youth chaplaincy coordinator and assistant to the archdiocesan youth chaplain, Fr Charles Prince.

Her term on the Youth Advisory Body will run for three years.

The newly formed group will have an important consultative and proposal-making role to play. Members will assist the dicastery with issues related to youth ministry as well as other general topics. Their first meeting is scheduled for April 2020 in Rome.

Fr Bernd Biberger, director-general of the Schoenstatt Sisters worldwide, and Fr Ludwe Jayiya celebrate Mass at the Schoenstatt shrine in Cathcart, Queenstown diocese, which was consecrated in December 1949.

Dominique Yon and Pope Francis, who has appointed the Capetonian to his newlyformed youth advisory board.

The advisory body comprises 20 young Catholic leaders from different regions of the world and some international movements, associations and communities.

These young people were involved in different phases of the process around the 2018 Synod of Bishops on the Youth. This included the International Youth Forum organised in June this year by the dicastery to encourage the implementation of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Christus vivit.

The synod’s final document asked that “the active participation of the young become effective and ordinary in places of coresponsibility in the particular churches”, in national bishops’ episcopal conferences and the universal Church “By the grace of God, I look forward to adding value to this committee as I proudly represent Southern Africa,” Ms Yon said.

“I hope to ensure the voices and challenges of our young people are recognised at this level.”

Movement’s ‘Mother of Africa’ shrine turns 70 T HE first Schoenstatt shrine in Africa is celebrating its 70th anniversary later this month.

The shrine in Cathcart, Queenstown diocese—affectionately known as the “Mother Shrine of Africa”—was consecrated on December 28, 1949.

To mark the jubilee, the local community together with the Schoenstatt Sisters held a celebration, with a Mass celebrated by Fr Bernd Biberger, director-general of the international Schoenstatt Sisters.

Fr Ludwe Jayiya of Port Elizabeth, who is originally from Cathcart, concelebrated.

Eleven Sisters travelled from Cape Town to be there.

Fr Biberger was in South Africa for three weeks to visit the Sisters and the family movement which is active in Cape Town, Johannesburg and the Eastern Cape.

In his sermon, Fr Biberger highlighted some of the blessings that have spread from the Cathcart shrine over the past 70 years, pointing especially to vocations and the spread of Schoenstatt in Africa and the English-speaking world.

Schoenstatt is an international move-

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ment founded in Germany by Fr Joseph Kentenich in 1914. It spread to South Africa in January 1934, when the first Schoenstatt Sisters arrived in the country.

The movement is based on four pillars: families, women, men and priests.

Sr Joanne Petersen, provincial of the Schoenstatt Sisters in South Africa, welcomed pilgrims who had travelled from East London, Port Elizabeth, Stutterheim, Queenstown and Cape Town for the jubilee celebrations.

The pilgrims visited the "Father Room", the room where Fr Kentenich stayed during his visit to Cathcart in 1948.

It was Fr Kentenich who encouraged the Sisters and the people of Cathcart to build the shrine.

Choir members from Kati Kati together with local children contributed to the music during Mass, while children from the local Inchopo music project prepared a piece for the communion meditation.

The Cathcart shrine, one of five Schoenstatt shrines in the country, is open daily from 7:30 until 18:00. Everyone is welcome to join the daily Communion service.

The

S outher n C ross

IT’S WORTH IT!

Eighteeen children received their First Communion at St Benedict’s cathedral in Eshowe, KwazuluNatal. The communicants are seen with cathedral administrator Fr Victor Chavunga OSB (right) and assistant Fr Sanukelo Ngema (left)

FAITH

The Southern Cross, December 11 to December 17, 2019

9

My road-trip pilgrimage to Ngome It took a gruelling trip across South Africa to get to Ngome, but once there, ANGElA BOTHA felt the illumination of a holy site.

S

OMETIMES a pilgrimage is a journey of faith as well as an adventure. So it was recently when my husband Paul and I set off on the long journey across South Africa, from Cape Town to Ngome.

From our experience, we recommend that one make that trip in a 4x4 or a bus. But as we set off, the idea of traversing such a long stretch of road in a Ford Focus was not daunting, and we eagerly anticipated our arrival in the lush highlands of northern Zululand.

More of our adventurous journey there later. Let me state upfront that I cannot recommend more highly the pilgrimage and the joy of being in such a spiritually uplifting atmosphere as at Ngome.

The Ngome shrine, dedicated to Our Lady, the Tabernacle of the Most High, is located in the diocese of Eshowe, about 330km north of Durban and 85km east of Vryheid.

It is the site that marks German Benedictine Sister Reinolda May’s apparitions of Our Lady between 1955 and 1971.

The shrine has 18 full-time staff, six of them Benedictine and Franciscan Sisters.

There seemed to be ten priests, led by the rector, Fr Wayne Weldschidt OMI, who see to the smooth running of schedules.

The Benedictine convent superior is Sr Angelica Ndlovu. Franciscan Sister Immaculate handles the bookings.

As a musician Fr Weldschidt performs in church; his other talent is handling exorcisms on the grass outside the shrine’s Church on the Rocks.

Our accommodation at Ngome Farm Lodge was very basic, but it was in a lovely setting. Other types of rooms, nicer than ours, are available, and there are dormitories sleeping 95 people.

Pilgrims from everywhere Hundreds and hundreds of people are arriving day and night. Visitors from Europe come in the summer, and other visitors from Africa are continually arriving.

There are grottos of Our Lady erected around the farm. It is quite impersonal: no one is looking out for visitors during their stay there, and it is up to you to find your way around.

I was a customer at the repository, which is so very popular yet understocked. Other than this, there are no other shops, such as for food and beverages.

I attended Mass on both days we were at Ngome. At the first one I sobbed when the Zulu men in the congregation sang in their basso profundo, or baritone voices, completely unrehearsed, natural harmonies.

There were eight priests in attendance at that Mass, and five at Sundays Mass, which included a blessing of the artifacts and holy

The exterior and interior of the Ngome shrine church. Angela Botha, who wrote this article, and her husband drove from Cape Town to the Marian shrine in the diocese of Eshowe to receive the spiritual fruits of a place which is attracting increasing numbers of pilgrims every year. (Photos: Angela Botha) water from the springs.

One of the main reasons that I was so keen to find the seven springs at Ngome was that these healing waters really do work: my brother was cured of cancer because of them.

Pilgrims are allowed to collect water and have it blessed in the church. But reaching the seven springs is difficult, involving a very steep and tiring climb.

I had heard ten years ago about the sun at Ngome: its bright red and orange rays. On YouTube there is a video called “The Dancing Sun of Ngome”.

It recalls the Miracle of the Sun in Fatima in 1917, witnessed by at least 75 000 people. It is depicted on the wall of the altar in the main church at Ngome.

Ngome history in brief The history of Ngome is beautiful. Originally, in 1944, this farm was owned by the Benedictines and there were a few cattle on it. Now the neighbours of the shrine are Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla complex and King Goodwill Zwelithini’s Royal Palace at Pethu.

That lovely German nun, Sr Reinolda, had ten visions where Our Lady spoke to her, starting in August 1955, with a final apparition in May 1971.

Mary appeared as a Living Monstrance and asked to be called the “Tabernacle of the Most High”.

The Blessed Virgin stated that she wished a shrine to be built in a place where the seven streams come together—pointing to an empty area.

Sr Reinolda identified the springs two years later at Ngome, and the shrine was erected.

Born in 1901 in south-west Germany, Sr Reinolda arrived in this area in 1925 as a missionary and was much loved by the community.

She studied midwifery in Pietermaritzburg, and during her 38 years of tutelage at the Benedictine Mission Hospital, more than 28 000 babies were born.

Many of them were in mortal danger, so she performed numerous emergency baptisms.

One of the babies she delivered, in 1948, was a king.

Later Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini would often arrive at her small office for advice.

Sr Reinolda kept meticulous records and was very popular with the people who nicknamed her

“Mashiyane”, on account of her bushy eyebrows.

Although Mary had appeared to Sr Reinolda, Bishop Aurelian Bilgeri (a Benedictine himself) did not encourage devotion to these apparitions. In 1966 he allowed a small chapel to be built. When he died in 1973, his successor, Bishop Mansuet Biyase, allowed construction of the bigger chapel.

Devout pilgrims had been arriving at Ngome since 1961. In 1992 Ngome shrine was declared “a place of prayer”. Rome has not yet approved the apparitions, and Sr Reinolda is not a saint.

Pilgrim’s road-trip And with all this to look forward to, we left Cape Town on the feast of the Guardian Angels. I was confident, after all the well-wishing that we were given; and after having driven for nine hours on the first day, my husband Paul was optimistic about his well-planned route for Friday.

We had been warned not to drive at night. If we were unfortunate enough not to reach Ngome, we were instructed to retire before dark and find shelter.

Zululand’s roads are in a state of total neglect, with potholes, dongas, rocks and—most difficult of all—2 000 untended roaming animals to contend with. But it was

only when a youth threw a rock at our car that the sense of danger penetrated.

There are other hazards as well.

Killing an animal in an accident involves long negotiations with the local chief and payment of at least R1 000 cash.

Un-signposted towns were our downfall.

Paul had driven all morning and we were on track to reach Ngome in time for Mass at 15:00. This is when the devil stepped in and we had a huge spiritual battle.

We were heading for Ulundi. For two-and-a-half hours on a dirt track we concentrated on finding the freeway to this town.

We passed thousands of houses, towns without names, and gradually our road became more and more insignificant until it ended in a dead end.

I must admit that I felt scared for my life. Paul took out his cellphone.

No signal.

I reached into my handbag for my Rosary and said a decade. With that, a construction truck full of workers came into view.

Paul asked the driver for instructions to the “tarmac road”. He gave us precise directions.

We set off and travelled for 78km. By now, it was 16:30. And we were not yet done with getting lost.

Paul was absolutely determined

to find Ngome. Now there was a detour in the road and the sun started sinking. I was fed up so said that we must move off the road and book into a room in Ulundi. Paul didn’t answer me but stopped to ask locals for directions. They only spoke isiZulu.

Out came the rosary—six times.

Each time the local beamed at the sight and immediately recognised what destination we were after. The only problem was that, due to the language barrier, the directions were incoherent to us.

The only sign that we understood was made with hands by two different people, and it was the one for “perpendicular mountain”.

With only this fact to go on, my stalwart Paul cheerfully headed on and on. When we arrived at a steep mountain, I wasn’t hopeful.

The car lurched over the summit and we were presented with the most wonderful sight: an exuberant sun welcomed us, even though we were three hours and nine minutes late!

I bowed my head in reverence.

We had at last arrived after a 12hour journey on that day alone, and one of 1 680 km altogether.

The large blue and white sign indicating the shrine was very evident. Hallelujah!

And Paul’s eye and knee did heal, and my wheezing did diminish.

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10

The Southern Cross, December 11 to December 17, 2019

BOOK REVIEWS

Can business methods fix SA Church?

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH—200 YEARS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA: The Six Transitional Phases, by Marumagae Moshe. SA Catholic Online Books. 2019. 153pp.

Reviewed by Günther Simmermacher OUTH AFRICANS “are good at producing good policy documents but are short on implementation”, Marumagae Moshe points out in his book.

This, he argues, also applies to the not wholly successful implementation efforts such as the Johannesburg archdiocesan synod of 2009 and the SACBC pastoral plan of 1988, which his book evaluates.

Given the recently concluded synod of the archdiocese of Johannesburg and the impending release of the SACBC’s new pastoral plan— the successor documents to those Moshe is reviewing—the publication of this book is timely.

Moshe—who at 24 was appointed chair of the parish financial committee at Pimville in Soweto— proposes methods from the business world, and with laity taking leadership.

But before he gets to make his recommendations, Moshe reviews

S

aspects of the Church’s 200-year history in South Africa.

While this is by no means a history book—those who are looking for that might be better advised to turn to the works of Dr Joy Brain— Moshe does offer particular insights into the black urban experience of the Church.

The author’s objective of brevity lends the historical narrative a staccato tone. There might have been merit in extending the historical section into a separate book.

Some episodes call out for expansion, such as the conflict between St Peter’s Seminary rector Fr John Lebamang Sebidi and the SACBC, which reveals much about differences in perspectives that could exist between anti-apartheid bishops and activist clergy.

Moshe also recalls some of the absurdities under apartheid.

For example, when white priests (such as Frs Boyce, Winters and Muldoon) and religious Sisters insisted on staying among the people of the townships to which they were appointed, the apartheid regime carved out a white group area in Soweto especially for them.

There are also fascinating tidbits.

So we learn that Albertina Sisulu, a convert to Catholicism during her schooling, once wanted to become a nun.

A priest told Albertina that her vocation was in serving the people in a secular profession. So she be-

came a nurse and struggle icon instead.

Moshe reminds us that the struggle for equality and justice is not over: “[W]e can never have peace and security without justice in its totality, including economic justice, social justice and religious justice,” he writes.

This is also true of the local Church which is in the process of transformation. Moshe notes that many traditionally white parishes now have black priests.

“This causes turbulence: white South Africans withdraw from activities of the Church and the parish finances dwindle,” he avers.

He proposes the formation of “racial harmony PPC sub-committees” to bring about racial coherence, tolerance and understanding in parishes.

Moshe’s observations provide a good starting point for fruitful dialogue on such issues.

So should his blueprint for reorganising the running of parishes, and, indeed, the local Church.

Moshe offers parish planning advice based on pastoral imperatives—he keenly commends the

“Divine Renovation” model proposed by Canadian Fr James Mallon—and business best-practice.

This includes a SWOT analysis which intends to identify a Church structure’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, so that these can be strategically acted on.

The author gives his own ideas on the state of the local Church in his SWOT analysis; these can serve as a starting point for further review.

Likewise, his scenario planning is a useful guide for implementation.

Moshe offers some interesting ideas and insights, especially into the intersection between Church and society.

The reader may embrace them or take issue with some of these and offer alternative points and solutions.

What Moshe has provided is a helpful framework from which fruitful discussion can proceed. n The Catholic Church—200 Years in Southern Africa: The Six Transitional Phases is available at R190 from the author at marumagae moshe@gmail.com

Priest-author shows the way to ‘becoming love’ BECOME LOVE: Gradual Growth and Transformation from John to Francis, by Larry Kaufmann CSsR. Redemptorist Pastoral Publications. 2019. 180pp Reviewed by Tally Palmer AM writing at my study window. A cool, clear day with a light wind. Leaves and shifting light, a few torn white clouds.

This morning, reading Fr Larry Kaufmann’s book Become Love, I was moved to tears and a deep feeling of gratitude.

Here is a book that speaks to the heart of our struggle to love; a book that holds our striving and failures to love well, gently and powerfully.

Yes, we fail. Yes, the pain of failure can heal. Yes, we can love bet-

I

ter, if not perfectly.

Love is not a sentimental business—it is the tough road of shedding light on ourselves, to call out the best possible ways we can behave towards others.

The hardest times emerge where we love deeply. In relationship with our beloveds we suffer and celebrate most deeply.

In Become Love, Fr Kaufmann uses Jesus’ narrative pedagogy: the art of telling stories. He takes biblical figures we know well and retells us their stories, as recounted in John’s Gospel.

Fr Kaufmann Larry focuses on how these disciples came to love— and became more whole.

Each of them took the long way round. The path less travelled is

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seldom straight.

Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene, Thomas the Twin, Peter and others—each close to, and sometimes far, from the Lord they loved.

Fr Kaufmann traces their bumbling collisions with moments of growth. Moments in which they suffer, sometimes dance with joy, and learn to love better, to be more whole.

He traces their journeys and their processes, the long time of conversion and transformation.

Though this, the author takes us by the hand, with our own recognition of a long fragmented journey to God, and links it to the teaching of Jesus in John’s Gospel, through the years of Church tradition, to Pope Francis.

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Southern Cross BOOKS

He gives us “permission” to be who we are—people always groping towards, and sometimes dancing in, the light.

The late theologian Brian Gaybba, who gave Fr Kaufmann the title of this book, and Fr Kaufmann himself have been companions on my journey, shining light, love and care on my pathway.

Through Fr Kaufmann’s reflective teaching and stories, readers will recognise their own pathways to becoming love.

With heart, soul and mind, I recommend this book. n Prof Tally Palmer is the director of the Institute for Water Research at Rhodes University. Become Love can be ordered from Redemptorist Publications: rpp.org.za/product/become-love/

A useful guide to the story of St Bernadette LOURDES 2019, by Paul De Marco. Published by lulu.com.

2018. 168pp Reviewed by Günther Simmermacher N terms of annual visitors, Lourdes is the world’s thirdbiggest Marian shrine; in terms of reported miracles, perhaps none has been more prolific than this sanctuary in the south-western corner of France, near the border with Spain.

Paul De Marco, a British author who used to live in South Africa, has written a useful primer on Lourdes which will help especially those who are preparing to go on a pilgrimage there, and will firm up the memories of those who have been there.

De Marco, an industrious author whose articles have appeared periodically in The Southern Cross, takes the position of a believer.

In Lourdes 2019, he doesn’t debate the authenticity of the reported apparitions of the Blessed Virgin to St Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. He takes it for granted that the reader believes in them, as he does.

That approach liberates the author from hedging bets. The result is a book that is, by its nature, devotional. But it is also informative.

I

Happily, De Marco avoids the excess of saccharine prose that often afflicts such texts. His style is matter-of-fact as he recounts the biography of Bernadette, the undereducated peasant girl who had one of the greatest stories to tell—and chose the monastic life of the convent instead.

D

e Marco places the story of Bernadette and her family, the apparitions and the people’s reaction to them, as well as Bernadette’s posthumous popularity, within the social and political contexts of their times.

This is important, as the saints

should not be separated from their contexts (another pitfall in hagiography).

Here, however, the historical scene-setting sometimes gets in the narrative’s way.

But mostly, the story proceeds at a brisk pace, without sacrifice of important detail.

Two thirds of the book covers the story of Bernadette, from her birth into a struggling but loving family to her death in a convent at far-off Nevers.

The final third of the book is given to reflective contemplation: about God’s plan, the Immaculate Conception, prayer, repentance.

As a devotee of Our Lady of Fatima—De Marco wrote a similar book about the Portuguese shrine for its centenary in 2017—the author reflects on the links between the apparitions to Bernadette and those six decades later to little Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco.

Finally, he explains the mysteries of the Rosary, one by one, in a way that might be useful especially for catechists.

As an introduction to Lourdes, De Marco’s book is highly recommended. n Lourdes 2019 is available in paperback or as an eBook from www.lulu.com or on various online book retailers.

The Southern Cross, December 11 to December 17, 2019

YOUR cLASSIFIeDS

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

Advent Prayer

PeRSONAL

Heavenly Father, your son, Jesus, is your greatest gift to us, a great sign of your love. Guide us as we strive to walk in that love together as a family this Advent.

As we prepare our hearts for Christmas, bring us closer to each other and to your son. Give us the grace and strength we need every day. Help us to always trust in you.

Come, Lord Jesus, lead all people closer to you.

Come and dispel the darkness of our world with the light of your love. Amen.

What makes a real covenant with God? Continued from page 7 Fr Henri Nouwen and the life of Jean Vanier.

For Vanier, whom we lost just this year, the idea of covenant was central to the spirituality of L’Arche. Covenant in L’Arche is described as a “way of the heart”.

More so, it is a relationship of love, trust and mutuality which people discover and live out as members of the community.

Covenant is lived out in the concrete reality of each day and those individuals with disabilities are at the heart of this reality, living their covenant in L’Arche.

There is even a special L’Arche

11

prayer which invites us to overcome our divisions as Christians and enter into a covenant with one another, pointing us towards a unity founded upon our weakness and vulnerability.

“Today Christians from different Churches cannot eat around the same table of the broken bread, transformed into the body of Christ, but we can eat together around the table which welcomes the broken, the poor and the weak.

“Today Christians from different Churches cannot drink from the same chalice of the blood of Christ, but they and all our

brothers and sisters in Christ can drink together from the same chalice of suffering, of division, of anguish in our Church, our country and in our world.

“Together we can pour out the sweet oil of compassion upon the wounds of humanity.

“We pray that unity will come.”

Or as Angus Buchan said in his apology: “Any person who has given their life to Jesus Christ has in fact entered into a new covenant with our beloved Jesus Christ.” n Ross Ahlfeld is a Catholic journalist based in Scotland.

FROM OUR VAULTS 47 Years Ago: December 13, 1972

T

he 1972 Christmas issue includes an advertpacked 16-page Christmas supplement with articles on how the feast of Christmas came about, how Father Christmas might be leading children away from God, Christmas in Mexico and more.

R100 000 donation for mission A donation of R100 000 by the German Catholic funding agency Misereor is facilitating the renovation of the old St Albert’s mission at Reiger Park near Boksburg, and its conversion into a cultural centre of major importance.

ABORtION WARNING: The truth will convict a silent Church. See www.valuelifeabortion isevil.co.za ABORtION: Monthly Sunday Mass bidding prayer: ‘That Almighty God guide our nation to cease our murders of our unborn infants.’

HOLIDAY AccOMMODAtION

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

Come to Kolbe House, set in beautiful, spacious gardens in Rondebosch, nestled just under Devil’s Peak.

Self-catering, clean and , with spacious gardens.Safe parking. Close to all shops and public transport. Contact Pat 021 685-7370, 073 263-2105 or kolbe.house@ telkomsa.net. Visit our website www.kolbehouse. org.za cAPe tOWN: Strandfontein. Fully equipped selfcatering, two-bedroom apartment with parking.

R700 min or R175 p/p (4-6 persons) per night.

Phone/WhatsApp Paul 061 446-9665, vivilla@ telkomsa.net MARIANeLLA Guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of God with us.” Fully equipped, with amazing sea views.

Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy. Malcolm Salida 082 784-5675, mjsalida@ gmail.com

PRAYeRS

MAY ALL I DO today begin with you, O lord.

Plant dreams and hopes within my soul, revive my tired spirit: be with me today. May all I do today continue with your help, O lord. Be at my side and walk with me: be my sup-

to advertise call Yolanda timm on 021 465-5007 or e-mail advertising @scross.co.za

Will Argentina cry?

Juan Peron, “the man who burned churches and arrested priests and bishops 17 years ago”, has returned to Argentina as a “peacemaker”, saying there never was conflict between him and the Church.

M in palm of Madonna’s hand Experts repairing Michelangelo’s damaged Pietà have found the letter “M” engraved on the Madonna’s left hand, apparently carved at the same time as the sculpture. The Pietà was severely damaged in a hammer attack in May.

port today. May all I do today reach far and wide, O lord. My thoughts, my work, my life: make them blessings for your kingdom; let them go beyond today.

O God, today is new unlike any other day, for God makes each day different.

Today God's everyday grace falls on my soul like abundant seed, though I may hardly see it. Today is one of those days Jesus promised to be with me, a companion on my journey, and my life today, if I trust him, has consequences unseen. My life has a purpose. I have a mission. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. God has not created me for naught. Therefore I will trust him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. God does nothing in vain. He knows what he is about. John Henry Newman

MOSt HOLY LORD, I see your works here on earth. I stand amazed at the beauty and magnificent scenes 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.

PARISH NOtIceS

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

so that we can remove them. Also, we’d welcome new notices from parishes across Southern Africa to run free in the classifieds.

cAPe tOWN: A Holy Hour Prayer for Priests is held on the second Saturday of every month at the Villa Maria shrine from 16:00 to 17:00. The shrine is at 1 Kloof Nek Road in Tamboerskloof. The group prays for priests in the archdiocese, and elsewhere by request.

Retreat day/quiet prayer last Saturday of each month except December, at Springfield Convent in Wynberg, Cape Town.

Hosted by ClC, 10.0015.30. Contact Jill on 083 282-6763 or Jane on 082 783-0331.

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

Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. Mass on last Saturday of every month at 9:30 at Sacred Heart church in Somerset Road, Cape Town. Followed by vigil at abortion clinic. Contact Colette Thomas 083 412-4836 or 021 593 9875 or Br Daniel SCP 078 739-2988.

DURBAN: Holy Mass and Novena to St Anthony at St Anthony’s parish every Tuesday at 9:00. Holy Mass and Divine Mercy Devotion at 17:30 on first Friday of every month. Sunday Mass at 9:00. Phone 0313093496 or 031 209-2536.

St Anthony’s rosary group.

Every Wednesday at 18:00 at St Anthony’s church opposite Greyville racecourse.

All are welcome and lifts are available. Contact Keith Chetty on 083 372-9018.

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

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 893. ACROSS: 4 Gesture, 8 In rows, 9 Stephen, 10 Oblate, 11 Ringer, 12 Hitherto, 18 Dreaming, 20 Arcade, 21 Cohort, 22 Inflame, 23 Regret, 24 Deanery. DOWN: 1 Timothy, 2 Prelate, 3 Swathe, 5 Enthrone, 6 Typing, 7 Reeved, 13 Redeemer, 14 Bigotry, 15 Agitate, 16 Fringe, 17 Fallen, 19 Adored.

Liturgical Calendar

Not all institutions out of date

Year A – Weekdays Cycle Year 2

In his editorial, Mgr Donald de Beer writes that we must be cautious about the call to break with institutions, because the fact that some “are out of date doesn’t mean all are, or that institutions are now superfluous”.

Word of the Week Secretariat of State: The oldest dicastery in the Curia; performs all the political and diplomatic functions of Vatican City and the Holy See. Headed by the Secretary of State (effectively prime minister).

Dogma/Doctrine: The revealed teachings of Christ as defined by the Church’s magisterium, or teaching authority. Doctrine is what the Church believes.

Sunday December 15, 3rd Sunday of Advent Isaiah 35:1-6, 10, Psalm 146:6-10, James 5:7-10, Matthew 11:2-11 Monday December 16 Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17, Psalm 25:4-9, Matthew 21:23-27 Tuesday December 17 Genesis 49:2, 8-10, Psalm 72:1-4, 7-8, 17, Matthew 1:1-17 Wednesday December 18 Jeremiah 23:5-8, Psalm 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19, Matthew 1:18-24 Thursday December 19

Judges 13:2-7, 24-25, Psalm 71:3-6, 1617, Luke 1:5-25 Friday December 20 Isaiah 7:10-14, Psalm 24:1-6, Luke 1:26-38 Saturday December 21, St Peter Canisius Song of Solomon 2:8-14 or Zephaniah 3:14-18, Psalm 33:2-3, 11-12, 20-21, Luke 1:39-45 Sunday December 22, 4th Sunday of Advent Isaiah7:10-14, Psalm 24:1-6, Romans 1:1-7, Matthew1:18-24

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4th Sunday of Advent: December 22 Reading: Isaiah 7:10-14, Psalm 24:1-6, Romans 1:1-7, Matthew 1:18-24

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HE secret of this last week of Advent is that we must pay attention to what God is doing.

In the first reading for next Sunday, Ahaz, determined on a war against Assyria and Syria and the Northern Kingdom of Israel, is offered the option of a sign from God (“as deep as Sheol or as high as the sky above”); with a veneer of piety, he refuses the offer: “I shall not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.”

However, God is not fooled: “Listen, House of David: is it too little for you to make human beings weary, that you also make your God weary?”

Then he is given the sign anyway: “The Lord shall give you this sign: Look! The young woman will conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name ‘Immanuel’.” That name means, of course, “God with us”, and that is the name of what God is doing in this birth.

Next Sunday’s psalm offers a further invitation to see what God might be up to.

With exuberance, the poet reminds us that “to the Lord belongs the earth and what fills it, the world and those who live in it”.

God is, after all, the one who created it, “for it is he who founded it on the seas”.

Next, however, we have to be reminded that Not Just Anybody is permitted to “go

S outher n C ross

upon the mountain of the Lord…rise up in his holy place”; the lucky ones have to be “clean-handed and pure-hearted”, and certainly not “devoted to idols”, if they are to “receive blessing from the Lord, and justice from the God of their salvation”.

Then, in a slightly obscure sentence, the poet finishes off with a word of encouragement: “This is the generation of those who seek him, who long for your face, O God of Jacob.”

And what is God up to in the second reading? It is the remarkable opening to the Letter to the Romans, possibly Paul’s most influential epistle, and here the apostle proudly describes himself as “a slave of Christ Jesus, set apart for the Gospel of God”.

And the point is that God knew it was coming, for “he had promised it in advance through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures”.

Also, it has to do with “God’s Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, marked out as Son of God in power, according to a spirit of holiness (or: “the Holy Spirit”?) as a result of the Resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ Our Lord”.

This theologically dense sentence seems to bring together Father, Son and Spirit, along

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children only to have God protect the life of the one who is to save the people.

But, after that, the Joseph of the Christmas story writes his own history: He is presented to us as an “upright” man, a designation that scholars say implies that he has conformed himself to the Law of God, the supreme Jewish standard of holiness.

In every way he is blameless, a paradigm of goodness, which he demonstrates in the Christmas story by refusing to expose Mary to shame, even as he decides to divorce her quietly.

W

Classic Conrad

hat actually happened here? The background, in so far as we can reconstruct it, to the relationship between Joseph and Mary would have been this: The marriage custom at the time was that a young woman, essentially at the age of puberty, would be given to a man, usually several years her senior, in an arranged marriage by her parents. They would be betrothed—technically married—but would not yet live together or begin sexual relations for several more years.

The Jewish law was especially strict as to the couple remaining celibate while in the betrothal period. During this time, the young woman would continue to live with her parents and the young man would go about setting up a house and an occupation so as to be able to support his wife once they began to live together.

Joseph and Mary were at this stage of their relationship, legally married but not

Sunday Reflections

with the all-important Resurrection.

Paul then links the “grace and mission” he has received; and gives a clue of what his mission from God is: “for the obedience of faith among the Gentiles on behalf of his name”.

After that, he reveals the shape of what is going to happen to the Roman church: “You too are also called to belong to Jesus Christ.”

Finally we discover who God is summoning: “to all those who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be holy”, and what Paul is wishing them: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

In the Gospel for next Sunday, we are introduced to the family whom God has summoned for Jesus’ birth.

The first character is “his mother Mary, who was engaged to Joseph”, but made the embarrassing discovery that she was pregnant “before they came together”. Effortlessly, Matthew removes the embarrassment by indicating the source of the pregnancy: “of the Holy Spirit”, the second in our cast of characters, right at the end of the sentence. The third character is “her husband Joseph”, who on discovering the pregnancy wanted to do the right thing: “to divorce her discreetly”.

Joseph, a Christmas hero HERE are countless persons, basilicas, churches, shrines, seminaries, convents, and even towns and cities named after St Joseph.

Who exactly is this Joseph? He is that quiet figure prominently named in the Christmas story as the husband of Mary and the stepfather of Jesus, and then basically is never mentioned again.

The pious conception of him is that of an older man, a safe protector of Mary, a carpenter by trade, chaste and holy, humble and quiet, the perfect patron for manual labourers and anonymous virtue. But what do we really know about him?

In the Gospel of Matthew, the annunciation of Jesus’ conception is given to Joseph rather than to Mary: Before they came together, Mary was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.

Joseph, her husband, being an upright man and unwilling to shame her, had decided to divorce her quietly, when an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, that the child in her had been conceived through the Holy Spirit.

What can we learn from this text?

Partly it is symbolic: The Joseph of the Christmas story is clearly reminiscent of the Joseph of the Exodus story. He too has a dream, he too goes to Egypt, and he too saves the family.

Likewise, King Herod is clearly the counterpart of the Egyptian pharaoh; both feel threatened and both kill the Hebrew male

Nicholas King SJ

Note what God is doing

However, God is very much in charge of the story, as we discover in what happens next: “While he was thinking of this, look! The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream”, and tells him, “Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife”, and repeats the statement that the pregnancy is “of the Holy Spirit”.

Then the birth of a son is predicted, and his name is commanded (“Jesus—for he is going to save his people from their sins”).

Then, quite remarkably, Joseph does not ask for time to think about it, or complain at the extravagant demand that is being made upon him, but (after a quotation from our first reading, to remind us that God is in charge), without a word of resistance, “he arose from sleep and did as the angel had commanded and took his wife”.

God is running the story; but he needs our cooperation, that of the prophet and King Ahaz in the first reading, of the people of God in the psalm, of Paul and the Romans in the second reading, then of Mary and Joseph in the reading from the gospel.

What is God doing in your life, this week?

Southern Crossword #893

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

yet living together, when Mary became pregnant. Joseph, knowing that the child was not his, had a dilemma: If he wasn’t the father, who was?

In order to save his own reputation, he could have demanded a public inquiry and, indeed, had Mary been accused of adultery, it might have meant her death.

However, he decided to “divorce her quietly”, that is, to avoid a public inquiry which would leave her in an awkward and vulnerable situation.

Then, after receiving a revelation in a dream, he agrees to take her home as his wife and to name the child as his own.

Partly we understand the significance of that: he spares Mary embarrassment, he names the child as his own, and he provides an accepted physical, social, and religious place for the child to be born and raised.

But he does something else too: He shows how a person can be a pious believer, deeply faithful to everything within his religious tradition, and yet at the same time be open to a mystery beyond both his human and religious understanding.

And this was exactly the problem for any Christians, including Matthew himself, at the time the Gospels were written: They were pious Jews who didn’t know how to integrate Christ into their religious framework.

What does one do when God breaks into one’s life in new, previously unimaginable ways? How does one deal with an impossible conception?

Here’s how late biblical scholar Fr Raymond Brown put it: “The hero of Matthew’s infancy story is Joseph, a very sensitive Jewish observer of the Law. In Joseph, the evangelist was portraying what he thought a Jew [a true pious believer] should be and probably what he himself was.”

In essence what Joseph teaches us is how to live in loving fidelity to all that we cling to humanly and religiously, even as we are open to a mystery of God that takes us beyond all the categories of our religious practice and imagination.

Isn’t that one of the ongoing challenges of Christmas?

ACROSS

4. Get sure to make a sign (7) 8. How the pews are arranged (2,4) 9. The Church’s original martyr (7) 10. One who offers one’s life in religion (6) 11. He sounds the church bell (6) 12. Their hot movement lasted till now (8) 18. What St Joseph was doing when the angel spoke (8) 20. Cloister in the shopping mall? (6) 21. Group that is one tenth of a legion (6) 22. Provoke with fire? (7) 23. Express disappointment (6) 24 A division of the diocese (7)

DOWN

1. St Paul’s companion (7) 2. He’s a dignitary in the Church (7) 3. Swaddle (6) 5. Get the new bishop seated (8) 6. Kind of error on the keyboard (6) 7. Threaded the rope through (6) 13. He has saved us from sin (8) 14. Gory bit produced by serious intolerance (7) 15. Stir up public opinion (7) 16. Kind of benefit for one on the margin? (6) 17. Like human nature, not upright (6) 19. Worshipped (6) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

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AVING reached the age of 75, Mrs Petersen prepared her will and met with the parish priest to talk about her funeral, telling him: “Firstly, I want to be cremated, and secondly, I want my ashes scattered over the local golf course.”

The priest was confused: “The golf course? Mrs Petersen, I didn’t know you even liked golf.”

“Oh, I don’t,” she replied, “but that’s the only way I know my sons will visit me at least twice a week.”

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