191218

The Centenary Jubilee Year

S outher n C ross

December 18 to December 24, 2019

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Reg No. 1920/002058/06 No 5166

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SPECIAL 32-PAGE CHRISTMAS EDITION

16th-century painting by Italian artist Lorenzo Lotto. (Bridgeman Images)

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The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

CH RIST MAS

Hold on! You are Christmas Christmas, the coming of God as an infant, didn’t happen 2 000 years ago, but is happening today, as ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM SLATTERY OFM explains.

fant. St John Henry Newman states: “I have a place in God’s world which no one else has; whether I be rich or poor, despised or esteemed by man, God knows me and calls me by name.

“God has created me to do him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another…

“I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.

He has not created me for naught.

I shall do good. I shall do his work.

I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place.

I will trust Him. “Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. God knows what He is about.”

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N their 1990s song “Everybody Hurts”, the US rock band R.E.M. sang: “So, hold on, hold on, hold on. Everybody hurts. You are not alone.”

It is Christmas; it is God who says: “You are not alone!” The angels proclaim it: “I bring you good news of great joy.”

Emmanuel, God is with us.

Hold on, hold on, hold on. He tells us: “Do not be afraid—I will save you. I have called you by name— you are mine” (Is 43:1).

It seems we are unable to reach each other in South Africa. Like Frank Sinatra, we do it “My Way”— up one-way streets.

Everybody hurts. But hold on, you are not alone. Fear not, the Lord is coming.

Christmas is belonging. We can seek God through our intelligence, through reason and philosophy.

But it is through the experience of Belonging that we most nearly touch him.

We all know belonging. Belonging makes the mother sheep die to defend its lambs from ravaging dogs; it martyrs the mother hen in the defence of its chicks.

Belonging is that powerful force which determines our relationships. Though surrounded by a thousand persons, the one to whom I belong absorbs me.

Though unmeasurable, nothing is more concrete, more real, more felt, as belonging. At Christmas God says that he belongs to us and we belong to him. For that he created us, for this he reveals himself, this is why he comes at Christmas.

You are not alone.

The incarnation is now Our year, 2019, happened only once, like all other historical events, it has been swallowed up in the past. However, the mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot re-

How you are Christmas

Archbishop William Slattery OFM writes that we are as close to God’s entry into the world as were the shepherds and angels of Bethlehem more than 2 000 years ago. main only in the past because by his death he destroyed death; he participates in the divine eternity.

He so transcends all time while being made always present, always now.

The event of Christmas abides and draws everything towards life, companionship and joy. Because God’s entry into our world is now, we are as close to him as were the shepherds and the angels of Bethlehem. Hold on!

With the tenderness of a little infant, God takes us very seriously.

This world created by him is his gift to us; it is precious. Christmas reminds us that we are all brothers and sisters with creation itself.

As Pope Francis writes: “The sun

and the moon, the cedar and the little flower, the eagle and the sparrow; the spectacle of their countless diversities and inequalities tells us that no creature is selfsufficient. Creatures exist only in dependence on each other, to complete each other, in the service of each other…

“Every act of cruelty towards any creature is contrary to human dignity,” the pope said.

“The incarnation of the Word in a human family, in Nazareth, by its very newness, changed the history of the world. We need to enter into the mystery of Jesus’ birth, into the ‘yes’ given by Mary to the message of the angel, as well as the ‘yes’ of Joseph, who gave a name

Christmas is the celebration of small things, particular things, barely noticeable things.

It is Jesus in a manger… the child who will grow into the voice of God that is heard around the world.

Joan Chittister OP

to Jesus and watched over Mary.”

Noting the role played by Joseph, we see that “men play a decisive role in family life with regard to the protection and support of their wives and children”.

Seek God among the poor To situate the Gospel in historical time, St Luke mentions the great figures of the age: Augustus, Quirinius governor of Syria, and Herod. But it is among the poor, not in the company of the great, that we must seek Our Lord.

St Oscar Romero tells us: “Let us look for him among the poor newspaper boys who sleep on the doorways wrapped in today’s paper. Let us look for him in the newspaper boy who, because he did not sell enough papers, is severely reprimanded by his stepfather or stepmother. How sad is the history of these children.”

Hold on! Christmas invites us to prolong the Kingdom of this In-

Finally, become Christmas.

Hear Pope Francis: “Christmas is you, when you decide to be born again each day and let God into your soul. The Christmas pine is you when you resist vigorous winds and difficulties of life. The Christmas decorations are you when your virtues are colours which adorn life. The Christmas bell is you when you call, gather, and seek to unite.

“You are a Christmas light when you illuminate with your life the path of others with kindness, patience, joy and generosity.

“The Christmas angels are you, when you sing to the world a message of peace, justice and love. The Christmas star is you when you lead someone to meet the Lord.

“You are also the wise men when you give the best you have no matter what. The Christmas gift is you when you are truly friend and brother/sister of every human being.

“The Christmas greeting is you, when you forgive and re-establish peace even when you suffer. You are, yes, Christmas night when humble and conscious, you receive in the silence of the night the Saviour of the world without noise or great celebration…you are a smile of trust and tenderness, in the inner peace of a perennial Christmas that establishes the Kingdom within you.”

A very merry Christmas for all those who look like Christmas.

You are not alone, Hold on. n Archbishop William Slattery OFM is the retired head of Pretoria archdiocese. Join him on the Southern Cross pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Oberammergau in August/September 2020: www.fowlertours.co.za/passion/

Maureen Fernandes & Family wish all our Family, Friends, Priests & Religious a blessed Christmas Season.

May the year ahead be full of Peace, Joy, Good Health and much Happiness for you all!

We rejoice in this Christmas Season as we celebrate the countless “small things” shaping Catholic Education, grateful that they become significant things forming our young people who speak with the Voice of God.

We wish all our school communities, benefactors and associates warm blessings of Peace, Hope, Joy and Love.

www.littleden.org.za +27(0)11 6097246, 001-827 NPO info@littleeden.org.za

CH RIST MAS

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

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Honour Holy Family through refugees As the Holy Family once were migrants, so are many of those in our midst this Christmas. DALUXOLO MOLOANTOA explains how the Catholic Church aids migrants and spells out the Christian challenge to us.

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HE benches inside the cathedral of Christ the King in Johannesburg are a patchwork of nationalities every Sunday.

They are from countries all over Africa. Some are from Zimbabwe, some from Malawi, the DRC, Mozambique, Nigeria, and as far as Sudan and as near as Lesotho.

They also vary in terms of their legal status in South Africa. Some hold official refugee status. Some are officially classified as asylum-seekers fleeing persecution, and others yet are economic migrants.

They come to the cathedral every Sunday to attend Masses hosted throughout Sunday morning and evening for diverse African migrant and refugee communities and in various languages.

Every Christmas Day these multiethnic and multi-lingual communities come together as one to celebrate Mass as a community of migrants and refugees.

This Christmas Day Mass is an occasion for these communities from all parts of the continent to get together and express their belief in a better life, despite the difficulties many face in finding their place in South Africa.

For some—especially economic migrants from neighbouring coun-

tries such as Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland—this is the time to travel back home to share with their families what they have been working for in the preceding 11 months in the country’s most populous city.

About 15km east of the cathedral is the Bienvenu Shelter. The staff at the shelter have their hands full as usual but today it is for a special reason. The shelter is hosting a Christmas Day party for resident babies and children.

Bienvenu Shelter is a social project whose aim is to provide for the needs of migrant mothers and children by offering them accommodation, nutritious meals, clothes, access to health facilities (including psychological), education for the children, legal assistance, guidance and support, and other needs as and when they arise.

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tarted in 2001 by the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of St Charles (Scalabrinians), the project aims to extend the mission of its founder Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, bishop of Piacenza from 1876 until his death in 1905. He also founded the Missionaries of St Charles (Scalabrinian Fathers).

The Scalabrinians are based in various parts of the world and aim to ensure the promotion of human dignity and the human rights of migrants everywhere.

In South Africa, this work is done in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The Scalabrinians are more known for and associated with their Cape Town project, the Scalabrini Centre, which has spearheaded and challenged the South African government through far-reaching and widely-publicised litigation in the Cape Town High Court especially.

As in the areas of education and

Daluxolo Moloantoa tells us about the work done by the Church to help refugees in South Africa. The Church is the largest NGO providing services to refugees and migrants. health services, the Catholic Church in South Africa is the largest nongovernmental organisation to provide essential services to the migrant and refugee community.

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part from the Scalabrini Missionaries, the Church itself has integral bodies such as the Pastoral Council on Migration and Refugees (PCMR) within the conference territory which is coordinated by a multidisciplinary team, including Jesuit Refugee Services, Caritas, the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, Catholic Relief Services, the Sisters of Mercy, the Scalabrini Centre and various refugee consortiums.

The PCMR acts as an official Church voice on issues relating to migrants and refugees, and a channel of communication between diocesan offices and the bishops’ conference.

At a recent workshop hosted by

the Lumko Institute in Benoni, PCMR head Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg pointed out that attacks on migrant communities and their businesses are likely to continue because they “are now inextricably linked to service delivery protests”.

He said that migrants should not be scapegoated through violence for “the deep dissatisfaction of South Africans with the corruption and inefficiency of their own municipalities and their national government”.

Besides challenging the state through the court system, the Scalabrini Centre helps the refugee and migrant community in Cape Town in a number of other ways, even during the festive season.

“At most times in the run-up to the festive season, we at the Scalabrini Centre are involved through our legal division in helping travelling migrants to organise their trav-

elling documents,” said Charlotte Manicom, the Scalabrini communications officer.

“It is not unusual for a family to discover at the last minute that their travelling documents allowing them to travel to and from Zimbabwe are not yet ready, and they have to abandon their trip home until the next year perhaps. It is in such areas that we make our intervention to see to it that the Department of Home Affairs fulfils its mandate of helping such a family with the correct documentation within the correct time-frame,” she explained.

It is Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town who formulated the Christian challenge for Christmas: "We, as Christians, get so caught up in the joy of the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ in this period that we forget the real struggles his parents had at this very same period. They could ‘find no place in the inn’ and were, for all intents and purposes, homeless until given a stable.”

And then the Holy Family themselves became refugees, he noted.

“After the birth of Jesus, the Holy Family had to flee, fearing the persecution of a ruthless and tyrannical king. Vulnerable and at great risk, they went to a foreign country and were dependent on the hospitality of strangers “That really sums up what a refugee is—one who is displaced, usually to another country, through war, persecution or natural disaster,” Archbishop Brislin said.

And then he added: “Let us spare a thought and a prayer for the plight of refugees this Christmas.” n Daluxolo Moloantoa is the content manager at the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa.

CHRISTMAS EVE MASS ON TV WITH POPE FRANCIS 24TH DECEMBER 22h00 SABC 2

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The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

CH RIST MAS

Are we ready for Christ’s coming?

Advent heralds the coming of Christ. And he is coming, whether we are ready for him or not. But how can we get ready for him, asks JD FLYNN.

“Ponder nothing earthlyminded, for with blessing in His hand, Christ our God to earth descendeth, our full homage to demand.”

I realised then that I had spent most of Mass pondering “earthlyminded” things.

I had been thinking about the work I had to get done before FTER Communion at Mass Christmas could begin. I had been this morning as I write, our thinking about the presents I still parish school choir began wanted to buy. I had been thinking about friends I hoped to see, one of my favourite hymns.

The first line filled my heart: and books I hoped to read over “Let all mortal flesh keep silence, Christmas break.

And for a while, I was sideand with fear and trembling tracked thinking about why our stand.” house was so draughty It was sweet to hear and what I could do those solemn words in‘No one was about it. toned by the cherubic None of that seemed voices of Grade 3 and 4 ready for to me like “full homleaners, already giddy Christmas. age” of Christ, our God. for Christmas holidays to begin.

If God was demanding Not Mary and I looked at my wife that I should be thinkand smiled—at her, at Joseph; not ing only of celestial the baby in her arms, things—of angels and innkeepers, and at the thought of saints, perhaps—I was our older children failing. not Herod. kneeling in prayer with My warm feelings their classes, indistinChrist came about Advent eroded guishable in the sea of quickly. My mortal flesh plaid jumpers and navy – no matter who had not kept silent. I sweaters, somewhere in was not, I realised, was ready’ the pews ahead of us. ready, in a spiritual way, The moment felt to for Christmas. me like the end of Advent should But the extraordinary thing feel—Christ is coming, our family about Christmas is that no one will be together, work and school was ready for it. and activities will be put on hold Mary and Joseph were not ready for a few days of feasting, and rest- to be expecting a baby. Bethlehem ing. innkeepers were not ready to welBut then the school choir sang come the Holy Family. Herod was the next lines: not ready to receive the news that

With grace. With his coming into our lives—through the sacraments, and Scripture, and the Church— just as he came into the world in Bethlehem.

Papal wisdom

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The Adoration of the Magi is depicted in this 17th-century painting by French artist Claude Vignon. (Courtesy of Bridgeman Images) the Messiah had come.

Christmas came; Christ came— no matter who was ready.

There’s a reason for this. The reason is that while Christ warns us to be ready—ready for his coming, ready for our deaths, ready for our judgment—Christ also is the one who makes us ready.

We must be ready We cannot be ready for the things that matter most unless Christ has come into our lives, and transformed them.

We cannot be ready to respond to hatred with love unless Christ has tamed our tongues and quieted our hearts.

We cannot be ready to give without counting the cost unless, in Christ, we know that self-denial

gives us real joy.

We cannot be ready to go out and make disciples unless Christ has made us disciples.

And we cannot be ready to give up pondering “earthly-minded” things unless Christ has lifted our sights, transformed our vision, filled us with a love that consumes all else.

That transformation takes a lifetime. It is the transformation of becoming a saint.

We have a part to play. Mostly our part is to ask for grace, to try, to fail, to repent and try again. To trust that our efforts are not in vain, and that, by grace, our habits will become virtues and our virtues will perfect our intellects, our appetites, and our wills.

But all of that starts with Christ.

In his 2010 Christmas homily, Pope Benedict XVI wrote that in the Christmas message, two “elements belong together: grace and freedom, God’s prior love for us, without which we could not love him, and the response that he awaits from us, the response that he asks for so palpably through the birth of his son”.

He continued: “God has anticipated us with the gift of his Son. God anticipates us again and again in unexpected ways.

“He does not cease to search for us, to raise us up as often as we might need. He does not abandon the lost sheep in the wilderness into which it had strayed. God does not allow himself to be confounded by our sin.

“Again and again he begins afresh with us. But he is still waiting for us to join him in love. He loves us, so that we too may become people who love, so that there may be peace on earth.”

Things start small. With a glimpse of hope, or a moment of self-mastery—with an act of charity that surprises us, or a moment of clarity we didn’t expect. Faith grows. Hope grows. Love grows.

God doesn’t move in our lives because we are perfect, God moves in our lives to make us perfect.

We may not be ready for Christmas, but Jesus Christ is ready for us.—CNA

CH RIST MAS

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

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The history of a famous Christmas carol ‘Once In Royal David’s City’ was written as a catechism for children; today it is one of the most beloved Christmas carols. GüNTHER SIMMERMACHER looks at its backstory.

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USICAL arrangement can make all the difference.

Let a choir of school children sing “Once In Royal David’s City”, and the carol sounds like a nursery rhyme. But give it the big choir-and-organ treatment, and it resounds with the weight of a national anthem.

You can’t do that with, say, “Away In A Manger”.

The superbly adaptable melody of “Once In Royal David’s City” was written by Henry John Gauntlett, an English organist and composer who lived from 1805 to 1876.

Gauntlett wrote about a thousand pieces of music, mostly hymns—but “Once In Royal David’s City” is by far his most famous work.

The son of a prominent evangelical vicar, also named Henry, Gauntlett had a career in law until he hit the age of 40 and decided to follow his lifetime passion: music.

Henry Sr had always discouraged that career choice, since music might tempt his son towards the sins of the flesh (and that was more than a century before the advent of rock & roll!).

Henry Jr changed his career path from law to music only some years after his father’s death.

In his new career, Gauntlett served various London churches as their organist, even designing his own organ and pioneering the use of electricity to power the instrument. He also curated the body of English sacred music.

Soon Gauntlett established a fine reputation, both as a musician and as a musicologist. When he received a doctorate in music from the archbishop of Canterbury, he was the first person in two centuries to be thus honoured.

In 1846, the great composer Felix Mendelsohn invited Gauntlett to play the organ at the premiere of his Elijah in Birmingham. It was quite an exceptional recognition.

One of Gauntlett’s compositions was titled “Irby”, named after a village near Liverpool. It seems to have been unused until the composer found just the right vehicle for it: a poem written by the future wife of the Anglican primate of Ireland.

Cecil Frances Alexander (née Humphreys) wrote the words for “Once In Royal David’s City” in 1848; the organist, composer and musicologist Henry Gauntlett put the poem by the future bishop’s wife to music.

Independent woman Cecil Frances Humphreys (whose first name might inaccurately identify her as a man) was born in Ireland in 1818, the daughter of a land agent for a British aristocrat, and grew up in Dublin.

She was an intellectual and independent woman—she married only at 32, which by 19th century standards was very late in life.

As a Christian, an intellectual and a poet, Humphreys was influenced by the Oxford Movement, an Anglo-Catholic grouping which counted in its ranks John Henry Newman, before his conversion to Catholicism.

Humphreys published her poetry in 1848 in her anthology Hymns for Little Children, a work that would be hugely popular for decades. Among those poems was “Once In Royal David’s City”, as well as future Anglican staple hymns such as “All Things Bright And Beautiful” and “There Is A Green Hill Far Away”.

It was in Hymns for Little Children where Henry Gauntlett picked up the words for his obscure “Irby”, to create one of the most popular hymns in the Englishspeaking canon.

Where Gauntlett had Mendelsohn as his champion, Humphreys had Charles Gounod, the French composer of the opera Faust. In the composer’s view, some of her lyrics “seemed to set themselves to music”.

Humphreys wrote about 400 poems, most on Christian themes intended to catechise.

The catechesis in “Once In Royal David’s City” resides in its description of Jesus’ lowly birth in “a lowly cattle shed where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed”.

“He came down to earth from heaven who is God and Lord of all,” and did so in David’s royal city.

So his arrival should be greeted by a king (of course, it turned out that the king did all but welcome Jesus’ birth). And yet, “with the poor, and mean and lowly lived on earth our Saviour holy”.

Humphrey’s poetry has a generous dose of the mawkish, as was often the way in her times. There’s a cloying sentimentality in lines like, “he was little, weak, and helpless; tears and smiles, like us he knew”. Still, her words correctly explain that God was incarnated as a human, and into humble circumstances.

Humphreys obviously ap-

ServAntS of ChrISt the PrIeSt

Secular Institute of Consecrated and Apostolic Life Founder: the very Rev Father Andre Joseph Blaise OMI (1902-1992)

Our director general the Very Rev Father Cosmos Matoane, all priests and lay brother Servants of Christ the Priest; wish all our friends and benefactors and all those associated with our institutes.

Peace and blessings during the holy season of advent; at Christmas and Christmastide; and a peaceful and blessed new year of our Lord 2020 Let us put Christ back into Christmas; as Christ is the focal point of Christmas. And we be his witnesses

proved of his poverty. There is an irony in that, since she was very much a class-conscious woman who believed that social standing was fixed and divinely ordained.

Witness the original third verse of “All Things Bright And Beautiful”, which exclaims with assured gratification: “The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate, God made them high and lowly, and ordered their estate.”

Unsurprisingly, that verse is now usually deleted.

So for Humphreys and those who thought like her (which 160 years ago was most people), the Lord’s coming in lowly circumstances must have been counterintuitive and perhaps even quite shocking.

By Humphrey’s own account, “Once In Royal David’s City” and “All Things Bright And Beautiful” and other poems, had their origin in her attempt to explain the Creed to a child.

She’d write a poem about each line of the Apostle’s Creed. “All Things” covers the first line; “Once In Royal David’s City” deals with the second and third lines: “who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary”.

The bishop’s wife In 1850, Humphreys married the Church of Ireland cleric William Alexander, also a poet and six years her junior, who in 1867 became bishop of his hometown Derry.

As the bishop’s wife, Cecil Frances “CF” Alexander, as she was now known, was profoundly engaged in charitable activities.

She invested her royalties from

the poetry book in founding a school for the deaf, helped develop nurses’ training, aided the poor, and supported “fallen women”.

She died on October 12, 1895 at the age of 77. Four months later her husband became the archbishop of Armagh, and thus primate of Ireland.

A stained-glass window created in 1913 for the Anglican St Columb’s cathedral in Derry commemorates the writer of the three timeless hymns.

Traditional opener Every year since 1918, “Once In Royal David’s City” has been played as the processional hymn during the “Nine Lessons in Carols” Christmas Eve service at King’s College, Cambridge, which is broadcast on TV and radio around the world as Carols from King’s.

The first verse is performed solo by a choir boy, usually 12-13 years of age, who is chosen only moments before the performance.

For the second verse the choir joins the soloists before the organ comes in for the fourth verse and the congregation is let loose on the carol.

It has also been committed to record by artists such as Petula Clark, Jethro Tull, Leonard Bernstein, The Chieftains, Jessye Norman, Robin Gibb, Sufjan Stevens, Celtic Women, Eric Clapton and— here’s a slice of Christmas trivia— in 1959 by future James Bond actor Roger Moore. n For more histories of Christmas carols, see www.scross.co.za/category/ features/biography-of-hymns/

Radio Veritas wish you a Happy and Holy Christmas.

We thank you very much for your support in 2019 and wish you God’s blessings in 2020!

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The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

CH RIST MAS

A Southern Cross Christmas, 75 years ago The last war-time Christmas edition of The Southern Cross in 1944 was a 12-page affair. GüNTHER SIMMERMACHER steps into a time-capsule from 75 years ago.

The Church is also running soup kitchens for refugees in other parts of Italy.

In other news

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N 1944, the concerns of the Church were still with the Second World War, but the outlook was more positive than it had been the previous Christmas.

Victory over Nazi Germany would come within half a year.

At a time of paper restrictions, the Christmas edition, dated December 13, 1944 (and issue number 1262) came in at 12 pages, four more than the usual volume. The cover price was 3 pence.

There are four photos and two line illustrations in the issue: two on the cover, of Bethlehem and the altar of the “Catholic church of the Nativity” there (commonly known as St Catherine’s), one of US forces in procession in liberated France, and one of Capt Robert Collingwood, who received a decoration for war heroism.

The leading news The focus on the front-page is on Pope Pius XII, under whose auspices 193 000 meals are being distributed every day to the hungry in Rome. Those hungry people doubtless include some of the 53 000 refugees in Rome taken in by the Papal Refugee Commission.

• Among the many local snippets is the news that Mr CG Sassin of Kimberley has been elected a member of the Demobilisation Committee for the Northern Cape.

• Oudtshoorn’s Polish orphans have given a performance of folk dance in Yeoville, Johannesburg, with the city’s Bishop O’Leary in attendance.

• Some 16 000 parishes in the US have collected more than half a million kilograms of clothing for the liberated people of Europe.

• Official pilgrimages to Lourdes have resumed for the first time since the German occupation, even though two bombs have exploded at the site.

Features • An unsigned feature reports on the insights of Abbé Breuil, “probably the greatest living authority on...prehistoric times”. The French Jesuit priest recently visited Cape Town, his third trip to South Africa after 1929 and 1942.

• Another unsigned feature looks at the reports by Hallett Abend, who for 16 years was the New York Times’ Far East correspondent, on the missionary work done in China.

• Fr G Reeves, a wing-commander in the Royal Air Force, reflects on a conversation about love and romance.

Columnists Long-serving women’s columnist Mary Singleton tells a Christmas story, while Fr Gavan Duffy SJ in part 292 of his “Theology for the Layman” reflects on the Creed.

The Paulist Fathers in Johannesburg answer a series of questions from readers. Among other things, they explain why it is possible to have Mass said in honour of saints.

In her “Children’s Corner”, Aunt Celia welcomes a new “Cornerite” in six-year-old Elaine Thompson, who shall be known as “Moonbeam”.

Fr Bernard Huss CMM in his “Native Affairs” column explains the urgent need for more African nurses.

The “Topic of the Week” addresses various current issues.

Among them is an objection to the call for stricter pass laws to control the influx of Africans into the cities.

The Southern Cross suggests that “the real solution lies in the provision of just wages, proper family housing and religious education”.

The “Roll of Honour” marks the death in war service of Lt Joseph Terence Rowan, telegraphist Leslie Bernard de Reuck, and Lt Gordon McKenzie (MIA).

The editorial In a two-part leader, editor Fr Owen McCann reflects on the Immaculate Conception, and on Christmas gifts, saying that the practice of giving presents can be criticised “because people have forgotten why the gifts are made”.

Letters page In one of only two letters, “Shareholder” asks about selling shares in the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Co, which publishes The Southern Cross. The editor explains how that is done, and points out that for the past three years, dividends have been 7,5%. Happy days!

Christmas supplement There is no supplement; the Christmas articles are mixed with all the other material. But there are plenty of seasonal offerings.

“Sacerdos” writes in detail about the two-hour Christmas Mass at an unidentified mission station.

Fr J Kendal SJ suggests in a forthright reflection that an antidote to the desperate seasonal merriment that is meant to mask the drudgery of daily life is to have a good Christmas liturgy.

“Christmas in America” is the subject of Fr J Bradley CSP, who suggests that after church services on Christmas morning, families rush “home through the snow”.

Army chaplain Fr P Poole CF writes about Christmas 1941 when the Fifth Brigade South African (made up of South African, Irish and Scottish soldiers) “had fallen back on Mersa Matruth after their tragic rout at Sidi Rezegh”.

There are a couple of poems and a short story by Edith Mary Power titled “Men of Goodwill”.

Adverts In 1944, Catholic businesses supported the Catholic press—and non-Catholics, too.

There were big names, like Stan-

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The front-page of The Southern Cross of December 13, 1944 dard and Barclay Banks, Permanent and United building societies, Monis champagne and liqueurs, Woolworth’s, Oxo, Moir’s jelly powder, Lion and Castle beers, and Lux soap (with actress Priscilla Lane, fresh from playing Cary Grant’s fiancée in the classic comedy Arsenic and Old Lace).

Cleghorns department store in Cape Town occupies the earpieces on the front-page, where fellow advertisers C to C cigarettes used to be placed.

For your dry-cleaning use Nannucci’s in Cape Town (still in existence, but not advertising); for your engineering needs try Woolf in Bloemfontein; and for a new suit Croft, Magill & Watson gents’ outfitters in Kimberley.

Catholics are advised to make

their brandy, gin and altar-wines Santy’s, buy their Catholic devotionals from the Catholic Repository in Johannesburg’s Kerk Street, get their Catholic Directory for 1945 from The Salesian Press, and send their children to any of the many Catholic boarding schools (many of them now long gone).

The Apostleship of the Sea asks Catholics to donate rosaries, old issues of The Southern Cross and other items for distribution among seafarers in South African ports.

Other products advertised include Flit insecticide, Neuritis nerve pills, Aspro tablets for relief in hot weather—and Peek Frean’s Victory wartime biscuits, with the promise that the really good quality biscuits will return in peacetime...

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Find a lot more Christmas articles at www.scross.co.za/ category/christmas

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S outher n C ross www.scross.co.za

December 18 to December 24, 2019

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 5166

Centenary Jubilee Year

The editor and staff of The Southern Cross wish all our readers, advertisers, associates, pilgrims, friends and supporters a blessed and joyful Christmas, and a peaceful 2020 filled with nothing but good news.

Little Daniella Simpson poses for a picture with Santa with a queue of kids behind her during a Christmas Festival at Our Lady Of Lebanon parish in Mulbarton, south of Johannesburg. (Photo: Mark Kisogloo)

‘Fly high’ with Jesus as your pilot

BY CINDY WOODEN

C

ELEBRATING a jubilee year centred around Our Lady of Loreto, Catholics are called to “fly high” towards God and holiness, letting Jesus be their “pilot”, said Archbishop Fabio Dal Cin, papal delegate of the Italian shrine of Our Lady of Loreto.

Pope Francis has proclaimed the Lauretan Jubilee, which will conclude in 2020 on the feast of Our Lady of Loreto on December 10.

The jubilee marks the 100th anniversary of the papal proclamation of Our Lady of Loreto as patron saint of aviators and those who work in aviation or travel by air.

Outlining jubilee events at a Vatican news conference, Archbishop Dal Cin said the connection between aviators and Our Lady of Loreto was solidified by members of the Italian air force immediately after World War I. Tradition holds that the Holy House in Loreto actually is Mary’s house from Nazareth, which “angels” flew to Italy in 1294 (for the real story and more on the shrine, see our feature on page 21).

The theme chosen for the jubilee year is “Called to Fly High”.

The shrine of Our Lady of Loreto near Ancona on Italy’s Adriatic coast will host jubilee pilgrimages for specific categories of people throughout the year. It will begin with priests and deacons in February.

For International Women’s Day on March

8, the shrine will host a special pilgrimage of women pilots. And on March 24, the 100th anniversary of Pope Benedict XV’s proclamation of Our Lady of Loreto as patron of aviators, members of the Italian air force will gather at the shrine.

The Italian airline Alitalia will fly a statue of Our Lady of Loreto to 20 civilian airports throughout the country during the year; the statue will stay in the airport chapels for a two-week period of veneration.

Archbishop Dal Cin said the jubilee is not only for those who work in aviation or travel by air; it is for “all those devoted to Our Lady of Loreto”.

“The flight of airplanes,” he said, can be “a metaphor for our existence. All of us are called to fly high because God offers each person the possibility of a good—that is, holy— life”.

Pope Francis’ prayer for the jubilee begins: “O God, your glory is higher than the heavens; as you raise us upward in flight let our spirit too rise high and grant us the wings of faith, hope and charity.”

The prayer includes a special invocation for air travel, though, asking God that it would be a way of “uniting men and women of every continent in a fraternal embrace of friendship, solidarity and peace”.—CNS n The Southern Cross’ pilgrimage to Italy, Croatia and Medjugorje led by Archbishop Stephen Brislin from May 18-27, 2020 includes a visit to Loreto. See www.fowlertours.co.za/medju for details or contact Gail at info@fowlertours.co.za

The managers of The

Southern Cross

160 000 to guard churches at Christmas N

EARLY 160 000 security personnel will be deployed to try to make Christmas and New Year celebrations in Indonesia safe, and about 3,5 million Muslim youths have pledged to protect churches.

This is an increase from last year, when nearly 90 000 security personnel guarded about 50 000 churches across the world’s most populous country, reported ucanews.org.

An official of the National Police Traffic Corps told journalists that police, military personnel and members of government agencies will guard churches and vital tourism sites during the celebrations.

“These are our targets which we need to focus on. We want to make sure that everything will run peacefully there,” he said.

Stanislaus Riyanta, an intelligence analyst from the University of Indonesia in West Java province, said authorities should not let their guard down in light of recent attacks in the country.

He pointed to a bomb attack on a police headquarters in Medan in North Sumatra in November and the stabbing of the Indonesian security minister a month earlier. The latter attack was attributed to a local terror outfit linked to ISIS. Since January, Indonesian police have arrested more than 100 suspected terrorists, ucanews.org reported.

At St Mary Immaculate parish in Indonesia’s second-largest city, Surabaya, Fransiskus Xaverius Ping Tedja, coordinator of the parish security desk, said the church would be provided with metal detectors. In May

2018, two brothers blew themselves up at the church, killing a parishioner and a police officer.

Besides working with police and military, he said the church would work with an Islamic youth movement.

The head of the youth movement said about half of the group’s 7 million members “stand ready to help guard churches during the celebrations”.

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The scene after the May 2018 suicide bombing at St Mary Immaculate church in the city of Surabaya in Indonesia. This year, the state has almost doubled its security for churches over Christmas, while Muslim youth are mobilising to protect churches. (Photo: M Risyal Hiday, Antara Foto/ Reuters/CNS)

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8

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

LOCAL

Family ministry celebrates silver jubilee

BY ERIN CARELSE

C

ELEBRATING its 25th anniversary this year, the Marriage & Family Ministry (MARFAM) sees the motto “Family Matters� is its vision and message.

MARFAM, a marriage and family life-renewal ministry, was founded in 1994 and associated with the Family Life Desk of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC).

The NGO has done much to create awareness of the importance of the Church as a family, through a variety of publications, programmes and workshops.

It is MARFAM’s mission to invite a greater awareness of the needs of the family as the domestic Church, to source and provide suitable resource material for family strengthening, enrichment and promotion, the spirituality of marriage and family relationships and daily life, and family catechesis, said coordinator Toni Rowland, who co-founded the ministry with her husband Chris, who died suddenly in 2000, and Fr Brendan Proctor.

G

oing into 2020, MARFAM’s publications take cognisance of the 25th anniversary.

Its 2020 Family Year Planner will incorporate a contemporary issue: the environment.

The theme “Our World, A Family of Families� responds to Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ on the environment, as well as the pope’s apostolic exhortations Evangelii Gaudium and Amoris Laetitia.

MARFAM has produced the planner regularly over the years, with themes such as “The Year of Faith�

Toni Rowland is the coordinator and co-founder of family ministry MARFAM. She is seen here with her late husband Chris (before his death in 2000), and in dressed up at her 75th birthday party.. and “The Year of Mercy�, and with topics such as “Families Walk the Talk� and “Peace Begins in the Home�. “The year planner is a kind of family catechesis resource as each month highlights a particular aspect of family life,� Mrs Rowland said. “We then provide spiritual and relationship information and family support around it by way of ‘Thoughts For The Day’, newsletters, workshops and retreats. “It can serve as a liturgical calendar for a family, as the little church of the home, by adding the family’s own special dates,� the longtime Southern Cross columnist added.

The planner, however, is not aimed at families alone. “The intention is to evangelise the wider Church with the understanding that marriage is a founda-

tional sacrament, and family life the way that God is experienced and faith is lived for everyone in some way,� Mrs Rowland added.

Monthly themes on the planner, address various areas of family life, such as love and marriage, parenting, grandparents, youth, heritage, and so on. These are developed using the broader ecological awareness of God, creation, humanity, and animals and plants.

Themes are also linked with liturgical feasts like Easter in April, or popular and national days, such as Youth Day in June or Women’s Day in August.

M

ARFAM’s original objectives included parish family ministry, publications, ministering to marriage and families, and sexuality education.

“These objectives were addressed in various ways, but as time went by, developed mainly through publications: Family Matters magazines and booklets in print form and lately in the digital domain have been produced and distributed,�

Mrs Rowland said.

The “Thoughts for the Day� are now also distributed digitally. The MARFAM website “is a growing resource as more archived materials are added�, she noted. “We hope it will also grow as a source of income,� Mrs Rowland said.

Southern Cross articles and Radio Veritas programmes have also presented the “family-friendly message�.

The Parish Family Ministry programme became part of the work of the SACBC Family Life Desk when

Mrs Rowland was employed there for some years. It was offered to all the bishops and presented to various dioceses and parishes. “Evaluations, however, indicate that the family focus in parish life, in general, remains quite small.

Many issues have taken precedence, for example HIV/Aids, gender-based violence and substance abuse,� she noted. “While very real, these can and should be seen in a broader context of families as units,� Mrs Rowland said. “This is also the vision of the Department of Social Development and its White Paper on Families, one of the various groupings with which MARFAM has networked.�

A board provides oversight and support, and many volunteer “family ministers� in dioceses, parishes and organisations have been a mainstay and have contributed time and energy over the years, Mrs Rowland said.

Finances have always been in short supply. This, Mrs Rowland, believes is the main factor why it has not been possible to grow MARFAM as she and her collaborators would have liked. “MARFAM is only 25 years old and, we hope, still has much to offer,� she said.

Mrs Rowland, 75, is working on a succession plan for the organisation. “If I were a bishop, I would be at retiring age. But MARFAM has become an extra member of my family and so I can’t just abandon it.

But others, who believe in the vision and are keen to adopt it, will need to take up the baton.� n For more information, contact Toni Rowland on info@marfam.org.za or call 082 552-1275.

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The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

LOCAL

9

Gabuza speaks out against gender-violence STAFF REPORTER

T

HE archdiocese of Durban hosted a conference to honour women and show support for victims of domestic violence, rape and other abuses.

Attended by 70 women and girls from 18 parishes, the conference was jointly hosted by the archdiocesan and national Justice & Peace Commissions.

It was co-facilitated by members Fr Stan Muyebe OP, Kabelo Selema,

Thabitha Chepape and Robert Mafinyori of the SACBC J&P with Dr Kuda Shonhiwa of Peace Oasis International, Bridget Phillips of the Institute for Healing of the Memories, and others.

Coadjutor Archbishop Abel Gabuza spent Saturday at the conference sharing and answering questions from participants.

He reiterated the bishops’ support for victims of domestic violence and abuse.

Archbishop Gabuza said the

bishops are developing a policy on reporting any form of abuse by Church personnel or parishioners to the authorities, and emphasised the need for victims to come forward and report abuse so that perpetrators will be prosecuted.

Fr Muyebe focused on Catholic women’s spirituality, pointing out the important role women play in building the Church.

Mr Mafinyori spoke on sexuality and domestic violence. He introduced participants to the #HeForShe

programme and the role the United Nations is playing in addressing abuse of women and children.

Dr Shonhiwa touched on the thorny issue of blessers and blessees, where older men entice young women with gifts for sexual favours.

He spoke about the effects of this trend on campuses, pointing to the damage caused by older men, and called on parents to visit their children on weekends without notice to ascertain that their daughters are not engaging with “sugar daddies”.

Dr Shonhiwa spoke about the decline in graduations among female students due to unplanned pregnancies or life-threatening diseases.

“Many left the conference with the aim of doing what is right to challenge systems working against them, and wanting to be fully active members of the J&P Commission in their respective parishes,” said archdiocesan J&P coordinator Kalie Senyane.

He said parishes need to address issues raised at the conference.

Spotlight on matriarchs’ lifegiving role in troubled times

BY ERIN CARELSE

A

N artist whose work was exhibited by the bishops’ Justice & Peace Commission said she was delighted that, for once, the people whose lives she depicts had access to her art.

Held in Johannesburg, the exhibition, titled “Bona Izwe Lakowethu” (“Look at Our World”), included a range of artists, and celebrated women from Catholic churches who, through song and prayer, intercede for women and children affected by violent crime.

“This work was created for women,” said Anglican artist and writer Tshepiso Mabula. “They form the thread that holds together the social, economic and political fabric of South Africa, and yet, ironically, are left on the periphery,” she said.

The selection of images spoke to “the hopes of both young and old women, the volatile and violent sit-

uations they have to endure both inside and outside their households, as well as the role they play in shaping our society”, Ms Mabula said.

The artist was pleased that women from different walks of life, as well as from various religious groups, attended the exhibition.

“Some had never been to an art exhibition before, so to have had the opportunity to create work for them and witness them engage with that was truly humbling,” she said.

“More often than not, workingclass black people don’t have access to the art made from their stories, so to have been able to get the people who form the majority of my work be there to experience it was enough to reassure me.”

The exhibition aimed to interrogate gender exclusion and celebrate the matriarchs who spend their days caring for and nurturing the same society that threatens their safety and livelihood, Ms Mabula said.

Anglican artist and writer Tshepiso Mabula celebrates women in her photographs exhibited at a Catholic J&P Commission exhibition.

It also invited dialogue on the hymns sung in many churches in predominantly black spaces, which she said was to examine the extent to which they either condone or challenge prevailing social norms

that sustain gender-based violence.

“These songs provide solace for many women who are persecuted and mistreated daily, and this exhibition seeks to interrogate how we can create a society that takes care

of its women,” she explained.

Ms Mabula, born in the Lephalale district of Limpopo, studied photojournalism and documentary photography at the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg.

She stumbled upon photography in 2012: “I went to visit an uncle, and he showed me work by a photographer he loved, award-winning Santu Mofokeng’s Bloemhof photo book. I then started looking into the work of different photographers, such as Cedric Nunn and Jodi Bieber, and loved the way they used images to tell different layers of a story,” Ms Mabula explained.

Her work is mainly documentary photography, often on memory, loss and the fleeting sense of belonging.

“I want to capture the dignity of people left on the periphery by society. I’ve spent a lot of time documenting life in townships and villages, and my core focus has been on women/matriarchs,” she said.

CT priests gather for retreat

P

RIESTS of Cape Town archdiocese gathered for their annual retreat at Holy Cross and Schoenstatt retreat centres.

The first was interactive and the second a silent preached one.

The retreat master was Fr Enrico Parry, former rector of St Peter’s and St John Vianney Seminaries, and now cathedral and financial admin-

Priests from Cape Town archdiocese at their 2019 silent preached retreat held at Schoenstatt retreat centre.

istrator as well as Oudtshoorn diocese chancellor. He presented talks and reflections on the overall theme, “The priest as a sign of hope, an instrument of change”.

Those who attended the retreat reflected a more diverse group than usual, and included Bishop Frank de Gouveia and Brother Mario Colussi from Johannesburg archdiocese.

CORRECTION: On page 3

of the November 27 issue we mistakenly identified Fr Sikhosiphi Mgoza OP as Fr Tsepo Lekoko.

Fr Mgoza is the priest shown helping parishioners at Holy Family parish in Turffontein, Johannesburg, make sandwiches for World Day of the Poor.

We apologise for the error.

10

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

Church discovered in Dublin archaeology dig

A

FTER the demolition of a Dublin building, archaeologists have discovered the foundations a 300-year-old church that was used during times of Catholic persecution.

The church was uncovered by a team of archaeologists during a dig taking place before the development of a 10-storey office building planned for the site.

“We have to dig here very carefully because the church is a recorded monument,” archeologist Franc Myles told The Irish Times.

The church, St Andrew’s parish in central Dublin, was built in 1709, when British penal laws outlawed the practice of Catholicism.

“There was probably a building used as a chapel from the foundation of St Andrew’s parish in 1709 and it is depicted on John Rocque’s map of

Dublin of 1756,” a developer’s archaeological report explains about the site.

Despite the prohibitions on Catholicism, the parish grew in its first hundred years. In fact, the archaeological report adds that, after significant growth in the parish, “it was decided that the chapel would have to be reconstructed” in 1811.

Fr Daniel Murray, who was later Archbishop of Dublin from 1823-52, laid down the foundation stone in 1814 for a new chapel. By 1831, significant progress had been made on the church’s reconstruction, but a new parish priest decided to move the church to a different location.

Construction on the office building will likely continue after the archaeological process has been completed and recorded.—CNS

Bishops slam hateful language on migrants

BY MICHAEL KELLY

I

RELAND’S Catholic bishops have criticised the use of intolerant language when it comes to discussions around migration and refugees.

Their remarks were made against a backdrop of recent public protests against the housing of asylum-seekers in towns and villages across the country and a divisive election campaign in which a number of candidates were accused of using racist language.

In a statement following their

winter general meeting, the Irish bishops’ conference said participants had “discussed with concern the use of intolerant language in public and political discourse as well as the growing hostility toward migrants and refugees coming to Ireland”.

They reminded parishioners that “Christians, in their language and actions, are asked to lead by example and to welcome the stranger” and warned that “any form of xenophobia is opposed to Christianity”.—CNS

Vatican unveils Nativity scene, Christmas tree

BY CAROL GLATz

T

HIS year’s Vatican Christmas tree in St Peter's Square has energy-saving lights.

The 26m-tall spruce tree came from the forests of the Veneto region in north-east Italy and another 20 smaller trees were donated by communities in the region's province of Vicenza.

It is adorned with silver and gold balls and “next-generation” lights meant to have a reduced impact on the environment and use less energy.

The large Nativity scene in St Peter's Square was made entirely out of wood and replicates traditional northern Trentino-style buildings.

Some 23 life-size wooden figures —all with handcarved heads—fill the scene, representing life in a small rural village in the northern province of Trento in the early 1900s.

There is a lumberjack pulling wood with a sled and people making cheese and washing clothes. Some of the faces reproduce the faces of real Italian shepherds from the region, including a man who recently died in an accident. Some of the clothes

The Nativity scene is pictured during a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in St Peter's Square at the Vatican. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) are real outfits handed down through the generations or once worn by local shepherds.

The scene also features broken tree trunks and limbs salvaged from severe storms in the region in late 2018.

About 40 trees will be replanted in the area that had been seriously

damaged by hurricane-like winds and torrential rains.

A smaller Nativity scene, provided by the northern province of Treviso, was set up in the Vatican's Paul VI audience hall; with its Gothic arches, it imitates an old style of barns and stables in the Lessinia mountains of the Veneto region.—CNS

Pope: Trust in Christ, not in psychics or sorcerers

P

OPE Francis scolded people who consider themselves practising Christians, but who turn to fortune-telling, psychic readings and tarot cards.

True faith means abandoning oneself to God “who makes himself known not through occult practices but through revelation

and with gratuitous love”, the pope said during his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square.

The pope called out Christians who seek reassurance from practitioners of magic.

“How is it possible, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you go to a sorcerer, a fortune-teller, these

types of people?” he asked. “Magic is not Christian!

“These things that are done to predict the future or predict many things or change situations in life are not Christian.

“The grace of Christ can bring you everything! Pray and trust in the Lord.”—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

11

Church urges Israel to Chinese bishop puts his investigate hate crimes homeland before Church A T

BY JUDITH SUDILOVSKY

HE Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land has condemned vandalism attacks in two Palestinian villages and called on Israeli authorities to investigate the hate crimes.

In addition to dozens of cars damaged and anti-Palestinian Hebrew graffiti spray painted on walls in the town of Jaljulia in central Israel, graffiti was scrawled in Hebrew on a wall and a car was burned in the Palestinian town of Taybeh, east of Ramallah.

Shortly before, a group of French nuns was harassed by Israeli settlers near Taybeh, the only fully Christian town in the region.

“These two incidents follow many other similar incidents which have been committed recently, especially against Palestinian properties in the West Bank,” the assembly said.

“We strongly condemn these racist acts of vandalism and urge the Israeli authorities to investigate seriously these apparent hate crimes and to bring those responsible for these crimes and those who incite such crimes to justice as soon as possible.”

The assembly includes bishops, patriarchs and others with jurisdiction over territory in the Holy Land.

Fr Johnny Abu Khalil of Holy Redeemer parish said the attack in Taybeh took place in the early morning when the car belonging to a young family from his parish was set afire.

The car was parked in the private parking area of the family’s home at the edge of town. Some young men

Graffiti in Hebrew is seen on a wall next to a car that was burned in the Palestinian town of Taybeh, West Bank. Catholic leaders in the Holy Land condemned the attacks and called on Israeli authorities to investigate. (Photo: Taybeh Municipality) from the parish who were out driving noticed the flames and alerted the authorities, he said.

“Usually Taybeh is a very quiet and peaceful village. It was very scary. The car was very close to the house, and just a bit more and the house could have caught on fire, too,” Fr Abu Khalil said.

The graffiti on the inner wall of the parking area proclaimed the area a “closed military zone”, a term used by the Israeli Defence Forces in areas in the occupied West Bank to pre-

vent Palestinians from entering.

Though representatives of the Israeli army came to the village to investigate, the priest said he is doubtful any perpetrators will be arrested as there are many incidents of vandalism believed to be carried out by a group of extremist young settlers known as the “hilltop youth”.

“The soldiers said they couldn’t do anything against them and that they [the “hilltop youth”] come against [the soldiers] too,” said Fr Abu Khalil.

However, he said, there had been a more disturbing incident a few weeks earlier when several French nuns who have established a convent in Taybeh went for a walk a bit away from the village towards Jericho. They were verbally accosted by a group of Israeli settlers, one of whom undressed in front of them in order to humiliate the nuns.

“There are fanatic extremist settlers near Taybeh. The nuns didn’t even tell us where they were going; they thought they could walk around like in France,” said Fr Abu Khalil. “They went back to Paris after that, and now they are back but they are afraid to go anywhere outside the village.”

Fr Abu Khalil has reminded his parishioners that they should maintain hope that peace and justice will reign over all the Holy Land.

“Christmas is coming and every year we pray for this peace and justice and a reconciliation of hearts that every person can see the image of God in the other,” he said.—CNS

CHINESE bishop has said that Catholics in the country must put their loyalty to the state before the faith. Bishop John Fang Xingyao made the statement during a Communist Party sponsored meeting in Beijing held to discuss religion in China.

“Love for the homeland must be greater than the love for the Church and the law of the country is above canon law,” Bishop Fang said at the Political Consultative Conference on Religions, according to Asia News.

Bishop Fang is the head of the diocese of Linyi on the east coast of China.

In addition to serving as the bishop of Linyi, he is also president of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the statesponsored Catholic group which existed in schism with Rome until the conclusion of the controversial Vatican-China agreement struck last year. Bishop Fang also serves as vice-president of the Council of Chinese Bishops.

For decades, the Church in China was split between the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and the underground Church that was in full communion with the Holy See. The 2018 Vatican-China agreement, the details of which have not been released, was intended to unify the two ecclesiastical communities, although multiple reports out of China have indicated that priests and laity who refuse to worship at government-run churches have faced in-

creased persecution.

President Xi has embarked upon a comprehensive campaign to bring religion in China under the control of the Communist Party. In 2016, he gave a speech at the National Religious Work Conference, where he explained his demand for the “Sinacisation” of religion, or the effort to make religion conform with Chinese culture and the Chinese Communist Party line.

Religious persecution in China has steadily escalated in recent months and years. Earlier this year, churches belonging to the country’s state-run “Three-Self Patriotic Movement” Protestant denomination were ordered to replace displays of the Ten Commandments with lists of sayings of President Xi. Since 2013, crosses have been removed from an estimated 1 500 churches, both Catholic and Protestant, as a part of an effort to “Sinicise” Christianity. New restrictions were put in place by the Chinese government making it illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to enter a church building.

Last month, Chinese authorities demolished a Catholic church after they claimed the building lacked proper permits.

During protests by Catholics at the church, it was reported that Chinese officials claimed that “the Vatican was on our side” and would support them tearing down the church.—CNA

12

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Guest editorial: Bishop Sylvester David OMI

Who will save us from the state we’re in?

I

N 1966 the famed duo Simon & Garfunkel recorded a song entitled “Silent Night/ 7 O’Clock News”.

The hymn “Silent Night” is sung against the background of the evening news, and the news gradually becomes louder so that the familiar Christmas hymn is drowned out.

That song is a striking reminder that while many of us sing “Silent Night, Holy Night” in our churches, the night is anything but silent, holy or peaceful for so many people in our world.

The Simon & Garfunkel song came out of the protest era of the 1960s, and sadly it is even more relevant 20 years into the 21st century.

The litany of suffering is endless, with so much violence, xenophobia, mindless separation of young children from their parents, homelessness, starvation, corruption and crippling diseases.

Many people die of overeating and related ailments, while even more die of starvation.

We are faced with a dystopia the world over. A sad fact is that after a while, we become used to the dysfunctional world and even begin to tolerate it.

In September 2015—a mere four years ago—the world wept when images of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, the Syrian boy who drowned in the Mediterranean, flashed across our screens. Today no one even mentions his name—Alan is forgotten.

More recently 39 people suffered indescribably in Britain as they suffocated in a refrigerated container.

Looking around us, we are faced with pessimism as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. We live in a country with perhaps the biggest gap between rich and poor in the world. All this is rather negative.

Who will save us? St Paul gives us the answer at the end of chapter 8 of his letter to the Romans.

He is convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ

and that in all this we are “more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rm 8:37).

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of hope and the birth of life itself. But let’s not look at this in a way that is too general, or else we could miss its true meaning and become oblivious of where that birth actually takes place.

Is it not amazing that when God gave the world his most definitive Word, that Word came in the context of a family?

The words of John’s Prologue from this year’s Mass for the feast of the Nativity are mindboggling when we contemplate them: “And the word became flesh and [literally] pitched his tent among us” (Jn 1:14).

At the incarnation God said once and for all: “I now make my important announcements in the context of the family”— thereby consecrating family life.

That is the place where we ought to hear and speak our first words of love, of forgiveness, of acceptance, and of encouragement.

As soon as we start to participate in this divine project, then we make Christmas real in our own homes and communities.

And from there we can reach out to others.

When we look at the Nativity story, we cannot ignore the fact that the Christmas baby was born into a displaced family and had to flee from the murderous Herod—that right at the beginning, there was no room for him in the houses of other human beings. Are we not facing the same?

May your Christmas be meaningful, as the one whose birth we celebrate knows what it is to suffer homelessness and even an attempt on his life.

To those who suffer, this gives us hope. To those who are more fortunate, let this motivate us to do something about the plight of so many who suffer.

In that way we can make the Christmas message known. n Bishop Sylvester David is the auxiliary bishop of Cape Town.

Wishing our Archbishop, Auxiliary Bishop, Clergy, Religious Benefactors, Friends, Staff, Residents, & the Staff of Southern Cross

PEACE, JOY AND NEW LIFE

Our grateful thanks for your prayers and support throughout the year, and for the love shown for the elderly and less fortunate in our care.

Together with our residents, children,staff & Sisters we unite in wishing all of you every blessing for the coming year 2019 you are in our prayers daily.

The Sisters of Nazareth, Johannesburg Nazareth House No 1 Webb Street, Yeoville, Phone: 011 648 1002 srirene@nazarethcare.co.za & tenty@nazarethcare.co.za www.nazhouse.org.za

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.

Waning Christianity under attack HRISTIANITY is most seriously much work on matters raised durC threatened, attacked and de- ing Vatican II, the hierarchy—the rided today, probably at the worst “middle management” of the level known.

God has, to a great degree, been pushed out of the lives of many.

Some schools have excluded any mention of Christianity and, recently, in a school art exhibition, Our Lord was depicted as a clown.

God’s name is casually, and without respect, included in everyday speech.

Christianity has seriously waned.

While the Vatican has done

respect life from womb to tomb

I

WAS pleased to read the bishops’ pastoral letter regarding violence against women, signed by Bishop Sithembele Sipuka on behalf of the SACBC (December 4).

I only wish that it had included among the five main recommendations a call for the protection and defence of life from its beginnings in the womb.

At least 50% of babies aborted are baby girls—future women. And if preborn women are not respected, neither will those who are born be respected.

The blame for gender-based violence cannot be placed only upon patriarchal or machismo culture.

We have to re-establish the absolute respect for all human life, from womb to tomb.

Fr Francois Dufour SDB, Nairobi, Kenya

HiV/aids needs moral aspect too

I

PRESENT a proposal for an intervention by the government.

“It is our proposal that regarding the worldwide fight against HIV/ Aids and sexually transmitted diseases, our government bring in as a top priority not only the teaching of sexuality to our youth and children but also of the practice of sexual abstinence, especially promoting virginity until marriage and fidelity to one partner. As a last resort or safety measure, we also support the use of condoms.

“In other words, let us bring back the ABC policy: “Abstinence, Faithfulness, and Condoms if need be!”

“We confirm the need for medical treatment, but we believe it is not the only solution. There must

Church—appears not to have appreciated the severity of the situation, or worse, decided to not take any positive action to counter the problem.

As Christians, we are told that we should pray for what we need and want. Why, then, has the hierarchy not provided leadership in calling for daily prayers at all Masses for the strengthening of the Christian faith, reversing the down-

be a return to prior moral beliefs and attitudes. The country can only benefit by it.

“The writer has recently been involved in talks and a workshop about HIV/Aids and nowhere did she hear or see even a hint of advising young people about virginity.

“No! On the contrary, it was the use of condoms that was promoted, with girls smiling at the camera, happily holding in their hands not chocolates but…!

“What ideas are we instilling in them by this approach? That it is acceptable to engage in sex whenever one wants it? That we cannot control our tendencies, our minds?

“I would like us to remind ourselves that cultures where chastity was promoted were seemingly the ones more progressive intellectually and spiritually.

“Let us reconsider what we are doing. Why not bring back to our schools religion as a subject, appropriately addressed, to help instil in our youth not only good social values, but also a sense of belonging to something greater? A sense of not being alone, a sense of power. Thank you.”

Maria Victoria Pereira, Durban

Communism at odds with China

T

HERE is a story told in Poland about Stalin; drinking vodka late at night, thinking about Poland, and mumbling that “trying to get Poles to embrace communism was like trying to put a horse’s saddle on a pig”.

What is more surprising to me is how anyone managed to export the communist ideology to the Chinese, to whom it must have seemed equally unnatural.

Thousands of years of innova-

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ward trend, and for greater growth?

In the 1950s, when Russia was regarded as a major threat to the Christian way of life, prayers asking for Our Lady’s intercession for the conversion of Russia were made after every Mass.

We currently are required to pray for South Africa at weekend Masses—does the situation not also exist between Monday and Friday?

I sincerely hope, with daily prayers for this intention, that raising this matter will lead to action from the hierarchy in a strong leadership role.

Guido Marchio, Cape Town 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

tion, faith and dynamism were swept aside to make way for the monotony of a godless, humourless autocracy.

As a creative, freedom-loving nation, it must have been stifling to have every aspect of life controlled, monitored and restricted in the manner it has been during its short epoch.

During his struggle with the British Empire, Gandhi noted that the small number of colonists could not control millions of Indians once they decided not to be controlled anymore, and his non-violent invitation for the British to leave was ultimately successful.

A handful of hardline communists are beginning to realise that too, as many of their nation’s one billion souls long to be free again.

No one in China has forgotten the Tiananmen Square massacre, the broken tip of an enormous and growing iceberg of dissent and resistance; and all eyes are now on Hong Kong to see if the people there are ready to stand firm before the vicelike grip of the mainland regime closes in on them and on the very core of what it is to be free.

Perhaps in our lifetime we will see the return of China to greatness, having rid herself of the malaise of Mao’s failed experiment, and the streets of Beijing (and Hong Kong) will be lit up with the joy of freedom, an inherent gift of God, once again; but not without struggle; not without blood, I suspect.

Stephen Clark, Manila, Philippines

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PERSPECTIVES

The warmth that saves I N the southern hemisphere we may lose a bit of the “feeling” of Christmas, which falls in the middle of the exuberance of year-end holidays.

Long summer days and warm nights invite us to seek out the company of friends over a braai, drinks by the pool, hiking, holidays at the beach, and so on.

In this time of joy and fun, Christmas runs the danger of becoming just another activity in an already packed season. We lose the deep sense of wonder and spiritual restoration that the birth of Jesus brings.

What a contrast this is from the European or North American experience. Days are short and cold. People retreat indoors, drawn by the warmth of the hearth. Outside, the earth is silent, the ground is either frozen or transformed into a cold, wet, muddy slush. The weather is inclement.

Before electric lights and indoor heating, the weeks and days leading up to Christmas must have been a dreary time of bone-aching cold and seemingly endless darkness—a time of endurance and gritting of teeth.

It is into this starkness that Christ is born. The cry of the newborn babe pierces the stillness of the dark night, lifting cold hearts and bodies. It is a cry that brings life and joy to the dead earth. It is the cry that holds the promise of springtime, the lengthening of days and new life.

The arrival of the Christ-child draws out those who have barricaded themselves in their houses, trying to preserve what little warmth can be derived from within. The gathering of the people around the crib curbs the coldness of solitude.

An image that really depicts the birth of Christ for me in such a cold place is the winter solstice at Newgrange in Ireland.

Three years ago, I wrote about my visit to this place, which is believed to be an ancient burial mound that predates the Celts, the Romans, and Christianity.

What fascinated me most about Newgrange is that the people of this ancient culture knew the pattern of the seasons and the sun so well that they built a long passage into the burial mound.

All year round, the chamber lies in darkness—except for a few days around the winter solstice. The dawn sun strikes the entrance of the tunnel at such an angle that it lights up the interior of the chamber inside the mound for a few short minutes.

We don’t know the significance of this event for the ancient peoples of Ireland, but think that was part of a ritual associated with the cycle of life.

Every year, crowds of people come to watch this phenomenon. It has become so popular that the tourism centre at Newgrange runs a lottery system to determine who will be fortunate enough to be inside the chamber as the light comes pouring in.

The sun is cold (and it might not even appear at all if the day is cloudy or rainy).

But it draws the crowds, simply because of the promise it holds: that the light might break through the dark. It is the promise that bone-chilling winter days will come to an end. It is the promise that spring will come again.

It is little wonder that the Western Christian tradition draws from the pagan festivals around the winter solstice.

T

he Christ-child becomes the “light that shines in the darkness,” a Child whose life “was the light of all mankind”.

The light of the winter solstice will fade and the chamber will become dark again, but “darkness has not overcome” the light that the Baby Jesus brings into the world (cf Jn 1:4-5).

Nothing grows in the frozen, wintry earth, and anything that survives does so only with great endurance. But in Christ is the promise not only of springtime but also of eternal life The Nativity story makes so much sense in this wintry context. It is much harder for us in the global south to picture, externally at least.

But internally, how many hearts have become like frozen landscapes? Perhaps there is not much difference between a Eu-

A cold Christmas: “The Census at Bethlehem” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1566)

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

Sarah-Leah Pimentel

The Mustard Seeds

ropean winter and our own hearts.

The cares of this life—with its burdens, disappointment, sorrow, suffering, betrayals, and loss—often leave us incapable of cultivating any warmth in our hearts. Instead, we lock ourselves away in the cold solitude of our bricked-up hearts that jealously guard what little warmth of human kindness remains.

Or perhaps fear, anxiety and distrust have stolen our joy? Without a deep interior joy, Christmas becomes just a ritual.

The magic of those seemingly perfect childhood Christmasses is but a distant memory.

Can the Baby Jesus, that eternally new light, light up the chamber of hearts that know only darkness?

Our hearts need that eruption of joy that startles us out of our mind-numbing routines and empty rituals and invite us once again to contemplate the God-Man, the child who came among as us a “Son of Man” (cf Mt 18:11) to endure our suffering and take on our condition, so that we might find the peace, joy, hope, and love of the eternal springtime.

In his latest apostolic letter, Pope Francis reflects on the Nativity scene: “Why does the Christmas crèche arouse such wonder and move us so deeply? First, because it shows God’s tender love: the Creator of the universe lowered himself to take up our littleness. The gift of life, in all its mystery, becomes all the more wondrous as we realise that the Son of Mary 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 eternal springtime we all seek is the unconditional, limitless love of God the Father, who sent us Jesus to share in our human condition and, through his death and resurrection, he redeemed and freed us from our sin.

The Christ-child, the Babe of Bethlehem invites us to give him our imperfect love in return. We can only do this when we acknowledge the coldness of our interior poverty, allowing our incomplete love to be overshadowed by eternal love.

A birth that causes disturbance Chris A McDonnell DVENT is almost complete. December days of preparation are drawing to an end.

On this day, the commercial atmosphere of purchase and preparation is at a height.

Each year in our parish—named for John the Baptist, the prophet of Advent—we have included a proclamation of the feast of Nativity, read by candlelight in a darkened church. It is read during the liturgy on the eve of Christmas It tells the story of the Jesus Child, the story of a birth in the small Palestinian town of Bethlehem at a time of colonial occupation.

It begins with these words.

“Time and event slip from our grasp.

Taken from the eternity that is God, came the Son. To a people prepared came the unrecognised child. In his time he came into our time and disturbed the peace.”

It was hard to recognise a Child born in such circumstances, even more so to appreciate the peace that his arrival would disturb.

His mother, a young Jewish woman, had carried him during the tiring months of her pregnancy. She would stand, years later, at the foot of the Cross beyond the walls of Jerusalem. But then his Advent was promised over many years, from the eternity of God. “For each of us, half people wandering in a lost world, peace comes with wholeness.

Appreciating our broken-being, we seek completion.”

There is recognition of a need, a thirst for our sustenance. The image of a wandering people is unfortunately one that we are familiar with in our present days.

The movements of peoples from Africa and the Middle East into Europe, the travels of those in Central America seeking help have brought tragic stories to our attention. All share one common theme, that of waiting.

“From the East has come to us a story of

Julia Beacroft

Point of Reflection

Great things in small packages

H

AVE you ever received a really tiny Christmas present and wondered what on earth it could be?

Is there actually anything in here at all, I’ve wondered on the occasions when I’ve been the recipient of one.

During a family Christmas a couple of years ago, a minute parcel actually went missing for quite some time, causing the sender to feel really anxious about its whereabouts. Happily, it eventually made a reappearance.

I’m sure that at some time or another, we’ve all disguised a very small gift by placing it in a large box, thereby confusing the person about to receive it!

In a society which places increasing importance on material things and where shop advertising for all manner of goods becomes prevalent in the “run-up” to Christmas, presents and gifts have taken on a significance which may be considered to be out of all proportion to the holy and festive season.

Yet biggest is not, of course, always best. There is a proverb which states that “good things come in small packages”, and it’s easy to recognise the truth in this.

The tiniest parcel can contain a gift of great value, such as jewellery. Small can mean beautiful, talented or gifted in any context. Tiny may represent value, perfection or authenticity.

O

ver two thousand years ago the most wondrous arrival ever known came in the smallest of packages when our Lord Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.

Our God sent his only begotten Son to be with us, and be with us in human form as a little helpless baby, who was born of a young virgin and a simple carpenter.

In this case small was truly sublime.

Jesus was born in the humblest of places and his early life was spent in obscurity.

During his years of ministry he ate and drank with sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes.

And eventually he was put to death in the manner of a common criminal.

Yet he was and is our Lord and Saviour.

So this Christmas may we be aware that love, goodness, beauty and kindness come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

St Paul reminds us that “these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love!” n Julia Beacroft’s book Sanctifying The Spirit is published by Sancio Books. It is available on Amazon.

Point of Church

‘It was hard to recognise a Child born in such circumstances, even more so to appreciate the peace that his arrival would disturb.’ a wandering people, waiting for the Lord, the story of a turbulent people moving with purpose yet often confused, often distraught sometimes lonely, to the point of pain.”

However arduous the journey, they do not hesitate to take to difficult roads or cross dangerous seas. They do so with purpose, sometimes at the cost of their lives.

“But always drawn ever-closer toward that one point of incarnation... Each of us, a pilgrim people the sparks that the Spirit Wind blew to life. Each of us, warming to a greater fire, seek the Child that is its source, the cause of our very existence.”

T

hose on a journey need encouragement, some thread of conviction that gives warmth during difficult days. That support can come in many ways, at unexpected times and with surprising results.

“In the silence that is night, in the darkness when the Sun is momentarily lost, huddled for warmth we reach the Other.”

So each year when the Nativity feast is marked, we do so in the context of what once happened and what happens

now in our own days. We should realise the crucial role that each of us, however insignificant we might be, has to play; all of us are pilgrims on a journey.

“Here tonight within these walls, proof against that awesome night, here again is cause for hope, here again a birth brings light. Pass on, pass on the fire that is given you, the fire that is within you, the fire that is you until, burnt to ash, you are at the very centre. There in the stable before the Child of Mary, is the promise of the Father, the gift of the Spirit.

“Pass on and stand before the telling of the story of the Jesus Child. And in the disturbing of your peace, accept the peace he brings from the eternity of God.” We are living in times where peace is constantly being disturbed, where the consequences of our own folly are uncertain.

Thomas Merton’s words echo the risk and uncertainty of our pilgrimage.

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself: and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.”

May the peace of the Christ be with each one of us as we celebrate, once again, his birth in a stable. May we tell again the story of the Jesus Child that others might hear his Good News. n This article was first published in the Catholic Times.

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The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

The Catholic Women’s League of Our Lady of Fatima parish in Durban North gave children in the TB ward at King Dinizulu Hospital a Christmas party.

Send your photos to

pics@scross.co.za Little Eden Society’s annual Christmas concert, with the theme “Wonders of the World”, was attended by donors and family members of residents. Little Eden CEO Xelda Rohrbeck is seen onstage with residents and staff at the concert.

COMMUNITY

Brescia House School in Bryanston, Johannesburg, awarded Grade 12 student Avril Mugauri an honours blazer. In 2018, she received full colours awards for academic study, debating and public speaking.

Children from St Theresa’s parish in Queenstown celebrated their First Communion.

The group are seen with Fr Tulani Gubula, catechist Debbie Naidoo in front of him, and Deacon James Bosman (left). eThekwini Deputy Mayor Belinda Scott unveiled Paddy Kearney Way in central Durban on the first anniversary of Mr Kearney’s death. Seen are (from left) Dr Ela Gandhi; Dr AV Mohamed; Ms Scott; Cardinal Wilfrid Napier; Raymond Perrier of the Denis Hurley Centre; Pandit Bharat, leader of the Hindu Society and acting chair of the Denis Hurley Centre; and Holy Family College principal Ursula Collings.

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This was 2019

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The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

YEAR-END REVIEW

The highlights and lowlights of the year

It was a year in which Church leaders talked tough on abuse, the pope visited our neighbourhood, South Africa was rocked by violence against women and foreign nationals, the world’s youth met in Panama, and the pope convened a synod on the Amazon. GüNTHER SIMMERMACHER looks back at 2019.

DECEMBEr 2018

It is announced that Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Abel Gabuza of Kimberley coadjutor archbishop of Durban, with the right to succeed Cardinal Wilfrid Napier when he retires. He is installed on February 10.

The sacraments are not for sale and priests must not demand payment for performing them if the recipient is indigent—but the faithful should pay stole fees if they can afford it, according to Bishop Victor Phalana of Klerksdorp.

For the first time, Christmas Day is an official holiday across the country for all Iraqis.

A gunman kills four people and then himself inside the cathedral of Our Lady of the Conception in Campinas, Brazil.

Veteran broadcaster Pat Rogers, who helped launch Radio Veritas, dies at 87 on December 23.

South African Sister Wendy Beckett, who gained fame in the 1990s for television shows and books explaining art, dies at 88 on December 26 in England.

JaNUarY 2019

Catholic schools have again outperformed the national average in the 2018 matric results. The Catholic schools that wrote the NSC exams recorded a pass rate of 84,4% (6,2% above the national pass rate).

Schools writing the IEB examination achieved a 99% pass rate.

Our Lady of Montserrat church in Betty’s Bay, near Hermanus in the Western Cape, is totally destroyed in a wildfire. A brave parishioner retrieves the tabernacle before the flames can reach it.

Renowned priest-artist Fr Wilfried Joye OMI of Klerksdorp diocese dies in Belgium at 79 on January 7.

The Vatican denies having had knowledge of sexual abuse allegations against Argentine Bishop Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta before his December 2017 appointment to a Vatican office.

Addressing Palestinian Christians in the West Bank town of Zababdeh, Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town says the Church cannot be silent or neutral in the face of injustice committed against Palestinians.

Bishop Boniface Tshosa Setlalekgosi, retired of Gaborone, dies on January 25 at 91.

The world’s youth gathers in Panama for World Youth Day, with an estimated 600 000 attending the vigil and final Mass, led by Pope Francis. He announces that World Youth Day 2022 will be held in Lisbon, Portugal.

FEBrUarY

Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha succeeds Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town as SACBC president.

Three classrooms and other facilities are destroyed in a fire at Holy Cross Primary School in District Six, Cape Town (rebuilding begins in November). A fire also destroys the presbytery at Maria Mamohau church in Orkney, Klerksdorp diocese.

The SACBC introduces a new English translation for common liturgical rites concerning the orders of celebrating matrimony and confirmation, and Eucharistic prayers for Masses with children.

Fr John Masilo Selemela is the new rector of St John Vianney National Seminary in Pretoria.

Pope Francis travels to the United Arab Emirates—the first-ever papal visit to the Arabian peninsula—meeting with Catholics and signing a joint declaration on human fraternity with Ahmed elTayeb, Grand Imam of al-Azhar in

Cairo, during an interreligious meeting in Abu Dhabi.

The political and corporate sectors have betrayed the trust of the people, and the May 8 general election “presents all South Africans with the opportunity to renew our vision” for the country, say the bishops of Southern Africa in a pastoral letter.

Pope Francis lifts the canonical penalties imposed 34 years ago on Fr Ernesto Cardenal, 94, the Nicaraguan poet and former member of the Sandinista government.

Pope Francis convenes a summit of the world’s bishops’ conference presidents on handling the sexual abuse crisis in the Church, including holding bishops accountable for handling cases correctly. Bishop Sipuka describes the summit as “a turning point in the life of the Church—things will not be the same”.

Australian Cardinal George Pell, 77, is convicted of child sexual abuse in a Melbourne court, and sentenced to six years in jail. After losing his appeal in June, he pursues further legal avenues of appeal.

MarCH

Among the 157 who died when a Boeing airplane crashed in Addis Ababa was Kenyan Mariannhill Missionaries Father George Kageche Mukua, 40, who studied at St Joseph’s Theological Institute in Cedara, KwaZulu-Natal. Among the

Cardinal Stanislaw rylko looks at an image of St John henry newman during an october 12 vigil in rome’s basilica of St Mary Major the night before the 19th-century theologian’s canonisation.

(Photo: Paul haring/CnS)

Archbishop Abel Gabuza (second from left) is received in Durban as the archdiocese’s coadjutor in February. With him are Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, apostolic nuncio Archbishop Peter Wells, and Fr Sylvester David OMI, the outgoing vicar-general of the archdiocese who in June would be appointed auxiliary bishop in Cape Town. other victims was Sr Florence Wangari Yongi, a Kenyan Notre Dame de Angers Sister.

Five nuns in India complain of Church repression for their support of a former superior general who was allegedly raped by Bishop Franco Mulakkal.

Noting that the bishops of Southern Africa have decided to address the issue of sexual abuse of religious Sisters in the region, Bishop Sipuka says that “women religious must be empowered to refuse any form of abuse by priests”.

After the devastating impact of Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, South African churches collect relief funds and items.

Kenyan Franciscan Brother Peter Tabichi is awarded the $1 million Global Teacher Prize for 2019. He plans to give away the money. He is later named Person of the Year by the United Nations in Kenya.

Mill Hill Father John Melhuish of Rustenburg dies in a car crash on March 23 at the age of 69.

In a document titled Communis Vita, Pope Francis amends Canon Law to include an almost automatic dismissal of religious who are absent without authorisation from their community for at least 12 months.

Fr Claude Grou, 77, is injured after being stabbed in the stomach by a 26-year-old suspect during a televised morning Mass in St Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal, Canada.

Pope Francis issues his apostolic exhortation Christus Vivit (“Christ Lives”) on the 2018 Synod of Bishops on the Youth.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II is awarded the Lamp of Peace, a top Catholic peace prize presented by the Conventual Franciscans of the Sacred Convent of Assisi.

On a brief visit to Morocco, Pope Francis addresses dialogue between Christianity and Islam; the Christian mission; migration; and the status of Jerusalem.

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Nazareth Care Centre in Johannesburg closes its HIV/Aids clinic and hospice after the Gauteng Department of Health withdraws financial support.

Pope emeritus Benedict XVI publishes a controversial essay which blames the “sexual revolution” of the 1960s for the abuse crisis in the Church.

The roof of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris catches fire, toppling its spire. Much of the interior is preserved, but restoration may take years and cost several billion euros.

At least 290 people are killed and more than 500 injured in jihadist Easter attacks on three churches and three hotels in Sri Lanka.

For the first time in 300 years, the marble steps of the Holy Stairs in Rome are free from the thick wooden panels installed in 1723, and will be left uncovered for the public between April 11 and June 9.

Mediating peace talks between leaders of South Sudanese factions, Pope Francis kisses their feet in a lesson in humility.

When South Africans inflict violence on migrants, they recklessly go against the solemn oath of Nelson Mandela that never again shall a human being be oppressed by an-

other human being in South Africa, Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg warns in a pastoral letter.

Bishop Dabula Mpako of Queenstown is appointed new archbishop of Pretoria to succeed Archbishop William Slattery. He is installed on June 22.

MaY

Canadian Catholic philosopher, theologian and humanitarian Jean Vanier dies at 90 on May 7.

The Southern Cross pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land is led

by Fr Russell Pollitt SJ. Pope Francis visits Bulgaria and North Macedonia, including Mother Teresa’s birthplace Skopje.

Pakistani authorities release Asia Bibi, a Catholic woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending a decade on death row.

The SACBC congratulates the Independent Electoral Commission and all political parties for creating an environment conducive to free and fair elections.

Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, retired Maronite patriarch, dies at 98 on May 12.

A bus carrying 25 Catholic pilgrims from Durban is targeted in a terrorist attack in Cairo. Aside from a few minor injuries, nobody is seriously harmed.

The theological commission appointed to study the history of women deacons has not reached a unanimous conclusion about whether deaconesses in the early Church were “ordained” or formally “blessed”.

St Augustine College, South Africa’s Catholic university, confers the Bonum Commune Award—the equivalent of an honorary doctorate, on Archbishop Buti Tlhagale.

The Vatican clears the way for dioceses and parishes to organise official pilgrimages to Medjugorje, but makes clear that the Catholic Church has not recognised as authentic the alleged Marian apparitions there.

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate appoint South African Fr Mokone Joseph Rathakoa superior of the order’s general house in Rome.

Johannesburg Catholic journalist Lebo WA Majahe dies suddenly at 35 on May 26.

Bishop Giuseppe Sandri of Witbank dies at the age of 72 on Ascension Thursday, May 30.

Pope Francis begins his threeday visit to Romania.

JUNE

The new norms and legal, criminal and safeguarding procedures contained in an apostolic letter titled “On the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Persons”, take effect on June 1.

Thembi Kgatlana, star player of South Africa’s women’s football team and parishioner of Our Lady of Africa in Mohlakeng, Johannesburg, scores against Spain in the World Cup in France.

The Winter Theology of the Jesuit Institute and the SACBC is presented in several centres by Fr David Marcotte SJ of the Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York on the spirituality and psychology of wellbeing.

Bishop Franklyn Nabuasah of Francistown is appointed the new bishop of Gaborone.

YEAR-END REVIEW Oblate Father Sylvester David, former vicar-general of Durban, is appointed auxiliary bishop of Cape Town. He is ordained in August.

Biological sex and gender are naturally fixed at birth and part of God’s plan for creation, the Congregation for Catholic Education says in a new document on gender.

After the successful cooperation on the 2016 restoration of the edicule in Jerusalem’s church of the Holy Sepulchre, the leaders of the three churches who serve as guardians of the holy site— Catholic, Orthodox, Armenian— sign an agreement to continue with restorations, on the pavement and foundations around the tomb.

Pope Francis declares 2020 a special jubilee year of celebration at the Italian shrine of Our Lady of Loreto, to mark the 100th anniversary of the declaration of Our Lady of Loreto as the patron saint of aviation.

Parishes are warned that Emmanuel Kalenda Bukasa, a Congolese layman who fraudulently presented himself as a priest in Durban, Umzimkulu and Kimberley, has no holy orders.

Pope Francis orders the publication of a document affirming the absolute secrecy of everything said in confession and calling on priests to defend it at all costs, even at the cost of their lives.

JULY

Catholic leaders in Cape Town express hope that the deployment of the army in parts of the city will curb gang warfare but also urge that a longterm approach be adopted.

Pope Francis names six superiors of women’s religious orders and a consecrated laywoman to be full members of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Previously, the members had all been men.

St Augustine College marks its 20th anniversary.

Fr Gerard Francisco Timoner, 51, from the Philippines is elected master-general of the Dominican Order worldwide. He the first Asian to lead the order.

Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson, the Ghanaian prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, visits Gaborone.

Some 300 delegates meet in Kampala, Uganda, for the plenary meeting of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), which also marks its 50th birthday.

Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg and Marie Dennis of Washington hand over their co-presidency of Pax Christi International to Kenyan Loreto Sister Teresia Wamuyu Wachira of Nairobi, Kenya, and French Bishop Marc Stenger.

aUGUST

Bishop Duncan Tsoke, auxiliary in Johannesburg, tells the bishops in their plenary that “the damage that the abuse has done to the Body of Christ is so deep that a mere adherence to the policies and protocols will not restore the trust in the Church”.

Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, president of the Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, addresses the bishops, as well as audiences throughout South Africa.

SACBC president Bishop Sipuka says that Church leaders have “retreated to the sacristies and occasional pastoral statements” instead of being present to people who are left alone in desperate situations.

In a case brought by the SACBC’s Justice & Peace Commission, the High Court in Johannesburg rules that sick miners working in the gold mining sector will receive compensation ranging from R50 000 to R500 000.

Award-winning author and poet Toni Morrison, who took her first name in honour of St Anthony of Padua when she was baptised as a Catholic at the age of 12, dies at 88 on August 5.

In a six-page letter to the

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

Left: Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha, second vice-president of Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), and Bishop Mathieu Madega Lebouakehan of Gabon, first vice-president, process into St Mary’s cathedral in Kampala, Uganda, on July 19. SECAM marked 50 years of founding this year.

(Photo courtesy SECAM). right: Nigerians evacuated from South Africa after attacks on foreign nationals arrive at the airport in Lagos, Nigeria, on September 18. (Photos: SECAM & Temilade Adelaja/Reuters/CNS) world’s priests, Pope Francis calls on the clergy to remain steadfast and prayerful during this time of purification after revelations of abuse by Church personnel, so that there may be a renewal of holiness in the priesthood.

The delegation of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) meets with President Cyril Ramaphosa and several government ministers. It includes Bishop Sipuka, SACBC secretary-general Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS and associate secretary-general Fr Patrick Rakeketsi CSS. Bishop Sipuka calls on the Church in Africa to work towards ending violence against people with albinism through its schools and other education efforts.

India’s government expels Spanish Daughters of Charity Sister Enedina, 86, who had ministered to the country’s poor people for five decades.

Dr Jacques de Vos is called to appear before a disciplinary inquiry by the Health Professions Council of South Africa for informing a patient that abortion constitutes the killing of an unborn human being. He has been barred from practising as a doctor.

Pope Francis names 13 new cardinals, including Archbishop Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The ordination of Bishop Anthony Yao Shun of Jining in China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region on August 26 is the first episcopal ordination in the country following the provisional agreement signed in 2018 between China and the Vatican.

The Church in Ireland confirms that a woman, Marion Carroll, who was seriously ill with multiple sclerosis, experienced a complete healing of all her symptoms at Knock shrine in County Mayo in 1989.

SEPTEMBEr

Colombian Cardinal José de Jesus Pimiento, the world’s oldest cardinal, dies at 100 on September 3. The following day, former curial official and papal envoy Cardinal Roger Etchegaray dies at 96 in France.

The cause for John Bradburne’s sainthood is officially launched in Harare on September 5, the 40th anniversary of his murder.

Robert Mugabe, former president of Zimbabwe and a Catholic, dies at 95 on September 6.

Fr Laurence Freeman OSB, director and spiritual leader of the World Community for Christian Meditation, presents seminars and other events in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.

Hundreds of South African Catholics cross the border into Mozambique to see Pope Francis during his visit to Maputo. The pope also visits Madagascar and Mauritius. The Southern Cross co-headlines a pilgrimage to the latter, led by Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, with Radio Veritas and Spotlight.Africa.

The Vatican says that the German bishops’ plans for a two-year process of synodal consultation on key issues facing the Catholic Church must conform to universal Church law and must be approved by the pope.

Domestic and sexual abusers should not be allowed to serve in structures such as parish pastoral or finance councils, according to Arch-

bishop Abel Gabuza, coadjutor of Durban.

Johannesburg’s archdiocesan synod, the first since 2009, takes place from September 20-21 at Cathedral Place in Berea.

Pope Francis declares the third Sunday in Ordinary Time (in 2020 on January 26) to be dedicated to the Word of God. The international Taizé Pilgrimage of Trust is held in Cape Town from September 25-29.

Cardinal William Levada, who in 2005 succeeded Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, dies on September 26 in Rome.

Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan visit an initiative of the Catholic-based Edmund Rice Justice Desk in Nyanga, Cape Town.

OCTOBEr

The Church worldwide celebrates Extraordinary Mission Month under the theme “Baptised and Sent”.

Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge, a devout Catholic, becomes the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours, finishing a 42,2km course in Vienna in 1 hour 59 minutes 40 seconds.

The month-long Synod of Bishops for the Amazon begins at the Vatican. Participants propose to address the lack of priests in the Amazon region by instituting new ministries for lay men and women.

A group of Southern Cross pilgrims travels through France, led

by Fr Lawrence Mduduzi Ndlovu.

In his new book Giudizio Universale (“Universal Judgment”), Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi warns that decades of mismanagement, shady deals and decreasing donations will leave the Vatican bankrupt.

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

Pope Francis changes the name of the Vatican Secret Archives to the Vatican Apostolic Archives.

Bishop Sipuka is appointed the new chair of the National Church Leaders’ Consultation.

NOVEMBEr

Prominent broadcaster Xolani Gwala, a devout Catholic, dies at 44

on November 1 after a long battle with cancer.

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

St Benedict’s College in Bedfordview, Johannesburg, issues a “Manifesto on Masculinity” to address patriarchal attitudes.

The Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints approves that the sainthood causes for married couple Domitilla and Danny Hyams, founders of the Little Eden Society in Johannesburg, may now proceed together.

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

The bishops’ Justice & Peace Commission calls on government to impose a ten-year moratorium on mining in 22 strategic watersource areas across South Africa.

Catholic churches are looted and vandalised in anti-government protests in Chile.

Pope Francis appoints Mgr Joe Kizito as new bishop of Aliwal North.

Dominique Yon of Cape Town is one of 20 youth leaders from around the world appointed to serve on the newly-formed international youth advisory body of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life.

The Southern Cross publishes Church Chuckles: The Big Book of Catholic Jokes.

Pope Francis visits Thailand and Japan. Several times he mentions how, as a young Jesuit, he had hoped to be sent as a missionary to Japan.

Southern Cross columnist Mphuthumi Ntabeni receives the prestigious literary prize awarded by the University of Johannesburg for “South African writing in English” in the “Debut” category for his novel The Broken River Tent.

The bishops of Southern Africa issue a “Pastoral Letter On Violence Against Women, Girls And Children”, specifically for Advent reflection.

in Memoriam

Sr Simone Görgens SaC, 77, of Cape Town, on Dec 21, 2018 Fr Larry McDonnell, 83, of Manzini, Eswatini, on Dec 25 Sr Wendy Beckett, 88, formerly of South Africa, on Dec 26 Sr Linda Prest iBVM, 78, of Pretoria, on Dec 28 Fr Wilfried Joye OMi, 79, of Klerksdorp, in Belgium on Jan 7 Fr Joseph Knapp MCCJ, 77, of Witbank and Pretoria, in Italy on Jan 12 Fr Werner Stafflinger, 83, of Cape Town, on Jan 12 Bishop Boniface Setlalekgosi, 91, retired of Gaborone, on Jan 25 Fr Theophilus Lesiba ‘Bisto’ Malotsa OMi, 69, of Johannesburg, on Feb 14 Deacon Sylvan Pather, of Cape Town, on Feb 14 Fr Michael Brady SMa, 76, of Limpopo, on Feb 17 Sr Othmara Metzger SaC, 101, of Cape Town, on Feb 17 Fr John Melhuish MHM, 69, of Rustenburg, in a car crash on March 23 Fr Ted Molyneaux, 82, of Port Elizabeth, on March 23 Sr Jerome Stützel OP, 81, of Osindisweni and Johannesburg, on March 25 Sr Charitas Bartilla OP, 97, of Oakford, on March 27 Sr Carol-anne Vornhusen OP, 91, of Johannesburg, on March 27 Fr Jonathan Shand SCP, 90, of Pretoria, on April 2 Sr Dorothe Funken CPS, 78, of Mariannhill, on April 2.

Fr Brian reid, 76, of Durban, on April 15 Sr rose-Noelene Lundall, 71, of Pretoria and Durban, on April 26 Br Hermann Engelhardt MCCJ, 74, of Witbank, on May 6 Bishop Giuseppe Sandri MCCJ, 72, of Witbank, on May 30 Fr Philip Miller, 81, of Johannesburg, on June 12 Sr Kathleen Boner OP, of Cape Town, on July 17 Deacon Paddy Maddison, of Johannesburg, on June 4.

Sr Margaret von Ohr CPS, 89, of Mariannhill, on June 24 Fr Leopold Scherer, 89, of Queenstown, on June 17 Sr Josephine robecke, 82, of Oakford and Johannesburg, on June 27 Fr Canice Dooley SDB, 84, of Cape Town, on July 13 Sr Mannes Fourie OP, 91, of Queenstown, Durban & Gauteng, on July 30 Fr Konrad Nefzger MCCJ, 80, of Witbank, on Aug 6 Sr Mary Virginia Fredericks SaC, 91, of Cape Town, on Aug 14 Fr Clemens Hilchenbach i.Sch, 89, formerly of Cape Town, on Aug 20 Sr Marian Moriarty iBVM, of Pretoria, on Aug 22 Fr Pieter van Heeswijk, of Durban, on Sept 8 Fr Eugene Hennessy SDB, 86, of Johannesburg, on Sept 12 Sr Mary Carmel Collins aMJ, 88, of Estcourt, on Sept 18 Sr regina Giwu OP, 90, of King William’s Town, on Sept 19.

Br Martin Thompson OFM, 84, formerly of Boksburg, on Sept 29 Sr Ferdinand robecke OP, 90, nursing sister, on November 7 Fr Owen Wilcock, 56, of East London and Pretoria, in a car accident on Dec. 3 Fr Sibusiso Zulu, 46, of Eshowe and Pretoria, in a car accident on Dec. 3 This list is not exhaustive but includes those whose deaths The Southern Cross was made aware of, or which we learnt of through other sources.

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18

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

SePteMBer: A woman holds a sign showing Pope Francis during the papal visit to Maputo in Mozambique.

(Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

APrIL: Begging for peace in South Sudan, Pope Francis kisses the feet of President Salva Kiir. (Photo: Vatican Media)

YEAR-END REVIEW

JAnuArY: The world’s youth gathered in Pamama City for World Youth Day. Seen here is the vigil, led by Pope Francis, at sunset.

(Photo: Günther Simmermacher)

SePteMBer: A woman holds up a sign during a protest outside parliament in Cape Town against gender-based violence, with St Mary’s cathedral in the background. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher)

MArCh: Ethiopians near Bishoftu, Ethiopia, prepare for a commemoration ceremony at the scene of the March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash. The crash, which killed 157— among them a priest and a nun—was caused by faulty Boeing technology. (Photo: Baz Ratner, Reuters)

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MAY: A priest leads a prayer service outside St Sebastian church in Negombo, Sri Lanka, for the souls of those who were killed on Easter in bomb attacks by Islamist militants. (Photo: Dinuka Liyanawatte, Reuters/CNS)

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oCtoBer: Pope Francis meets indigenous people from the Amazon region in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican during the second week of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon.

(Photo: Vatican Media)

APrIL: Notre Dame cathedral in Paris is on fire during Holy Week.

(Photo: Benoit Tessier, Reuters)

SePteMBer: Participants in the international Taizé Pilgrimage of Trust in Cape Town. It was the first Pilgrimage of Trust in South Africa since 1995 in Johannesburg. (Photo: Taizé)

LIFE

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

19

Seeing the funny side in a brain tumour When she was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2017, it was a sense of humour and her Catholic faith that armed Jeannie Gaffigan for battle, as she explained to CAROL zIMMERMANN.

A

T first, Jeannie Gaffigan didn’t set out to write a book about having her brain tumour removed.

It is a story that pretty much rolled out of her usual observations on life, faith and family that have been such an integral part of what she’s been doing for the past several years as the co-writer and producer of comedy specials, two books and a television series with her husband, the Catholic stand-up comedian and comedy actor Jim Gaffigan.

When Life Gives You Pears: The Healing Power of Family, Faith and Funny People recounts the unexpected discovery of a pear-sized tumour in Gaffigan’s brain in 2017, her three-day journey from learning about its existence (almost by accident) to surgery, and a complicated recovery where she was unable to eat or even drink water for six months.

“Obviously when I was sitting there looking at my MRI scan and saw that thing in my brain, I did not think of a joke immediately,” she said.

In retrospect, thinking that it looked like a pear was “kind of funny...but at the time I couldn’t even believe it; it seemed like something out of a movie”.

Gaffigan, a mother of five who is accustomed to seeing humour in everyday observances, could have easily hit the panic button with this “emergency medical situation”, as she describes it.

But here’s the thing: She didn’t.

She was even able to see humour in it—from the unglamorous dry shampoos at the hospital to the feeding tubes that her husband joked could be part of a new cooking show.

She is convinced that the only way she could jump from crippling fear of what was happening (or could happen) to a pretty calm acceptance of it and even an ability to see absurdity and grace in the new routines and giving up her own control stems from the strength of her Catholic faith.

As she put it: “When you recognise that God gives you ways to cope with hardships, you can’t just crawl into bed and say: ‘Just handle my life for me, it’s hard.’”

Humour a gift from God Gaffigan recognises that her sense of humour, which she de-

scribed as her “lens at which I look at life and marriage” is a gift from God. But still, she hadn’t intended to write about her way of looking at this particular situation, at first.

Prior to the ten-hour surgery and lengthy stay in the intensive care unit, she had been in the process of writing a book about what it was like to keep it together as a busy mom and wife of a touring stand-up comedian.

All of that was put on hold after a visit to with her children to their paediatrician who ended up recommending that Gaffigan get her head examined, literally, for her recent inability to hear out of one ear.

That initial test then put everything in fast forward with little time to think about it.

In one interview, Gaffigan said that as she was being wheeled into surgery, she was telling her husband her computer passwords and about ordering groceries online, fearing he wouldn’t know how to keep the household routine going.

During her recovery, she promised her publicist she would finish the book she started, but he told her to put that aside. Her bout with a brain tumour couldn’t just be another chapter; it had to be its own story.

for depression. As she sees it, one of the best treatments for depression is serving other people.

“You think about it: looking at someone with eyes of compassion, someone desperate for help, what a gift from God that we have the opportunity to help other people.”

Gaffigan, who co-wrote her husband Jim’s books: Food: A Love Story and Dad Is Fat before writing her own book, doesn’t see another book on the distant horizon especially with keeping up with her own kids and her work with parish and community youths.

Grateful for the tumour In her book When Life Gives You Pears, comedy writer Jeannie Gaffigan recounts how she got through a brain tumour with faith, family and a sense of humour. (Photo: Chad Griffith, courtesy Jeannie Gaffigan) where I’m at right now. Then I want to move on, because I can’t just sit there and dwell on the fact that I had brain surgery, even though it’s an important part of my life. The train is moving; I’ve got to move on.”

And the train—with five kids, work, volunteering and her husband’s comedy tour—is moving rapidly.

A book for everyone

Focus on Catholic youth

Fortunately, it was a story Gaffigan had already been trying to piece together for her own sake— trying to remember what exactly had happened in the chaos of it all.

She thought she was no different from pianists who might write songs about a personal tragedy to help them therapeutically.

Her initial manuscript was a lot more Catholic, she said, but in the end, she made the book for everybody.

“I made it a little more ‘you might not be Catholic or understand how the Blessed Mother understands my suffering more than anyone else does,’ but that’s the way I cope with it,’” she said.

“I made it more universal, so what that did was, it brought it out of the Christian section of the bookstore and put it more in the comedy section.” And to Gaffigan, that’s evangelisation, not proselytising.

“It’s like saying: ‘Look, I don’t know what you would do, but this is how I did it.’ And I feel like that’s more gentle and I feel like people are more open to that. There’s no secret. I’m not trying to dunk someone into the baptismal font, and handcuff them to their RCIA classes; I’m just telling my story.”

Different publishers said they were interested in delaying publication of the book for Mother’s Day 2020 to see where she was at that point, but Gaffigan wasn’t interested.

“In a year, I will have a different book in me,” she said.

“This is what happened; this is

For now, she is laser-focused on her family and a personal calling that she feels strongly about: working with young people in the community and in her parish at the basilica of Old St Patrick’s cathedral in New York, because she is concerned that young people in the Church seem to fall off the radar in the gap years between confirmation and young adult programmes.

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Gaffigan said her own kids are approaching this age, and she feels like she has a mission to “help manage and create scaffolding” for this age group who face a world tempting them with “things that are not ultimately going to serve what God made them to be”.

She thinks the questions before these young people should be: “Why did we get all the sacraments? Do we understand that Jesus loves us and forgives us and what are we doing to live out the beatitudes in our teenage lives?”

That answer, she said, isn’t found in just “going to Bible study and playing the guitar and singing about Jesus—it’s actually putting our faith into works”.

Gaffigan, who makes a living being funny, points out that so many kids today are in treatment

Gaffigan concludes her book saying she is grateful for the tumour, which not only gave her a second chance but a deeper appreciation of her faith, family and the ability to swallow water.

When she had no time to mentally prepare for this surgery, Gaffigan said, she wished she could have read a book by someone with a lot going on, facing a similar crisis, and how they dealt with it.

So she thought of “that pretend person” who might pick up her book while facing a challenge, medical or otherwise, while she was writing. But she also hopes her book speaks to those who have never had anything bad happen to them.

Between the lines throughout the book is Gaffigan’s message that “all of this is just temporary, and you don’t realise that until you almost lose it”.

“If I can convey that message to people who are doing just fine, that’s even more of a victory than (reaching) people that are facing a big obstacle,” she said.—CNS

20

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

REFLECTION

A new humility may fix the Church Clericalism is doing the Church great harm, but what’s the solution? DR SIPHIWE MKHIzE suggests a humility based in the concept of kenosis.

T

ODAY, we are living in an enormously traumatic moment that at its core has been produced by the sin of a Church that is called in its every essence to reflect holiness to the world.

At every level in the life of the Church we are confronting elements of rot and corrosion, and a need for radical reform in our ecclesial community.

We need this so it can regenerate the reality of missionary discipleship that is the vocation of every Christian.

At such a moment, the theology of the Church must be imbued with a deep humility rooted in the recognition that our Church is truly the pilgrim people of God. We are people of God seeking ever-deeper understanding of the pathway to which the Lord is guiding us. Our theology must therefore incorporate the vocation of the laity as the centre piece of the Church.

The pastoral theology of Pope Francis rejects the traditional prism that focused on the work of priests.

The Holy Father’s more generalised notion of pastoral theology in the writings includes the whole body of faithful in relationship with God.

The datum of his pastoral theology is a lived experience of the faithful in the concrete call of their discipleship.

Such a transposition is essential in the current moment for our Church, for clericalism is radically at the heart of the multidimensional crisis that the Catholic community faces today.

Pope Francis blames clericalism in the Catholic Church “for creating a culture where criminal abuse is widespread and extraordinary efforts have been made to keep the crimes hidden�.

The clericalist culture “is linked to a sense of entitlement, superiority and exclusion, and again abuse of power�, the pope said.

He pointed out that clericalism can be “fostered by priests themselves or by laypersons�.

Yes, lay people can fall into clericalism too! Thinking that their contributions to the life of the Church are only second-rate, or that in all things, surely “Father knows better�, or that priestly virtue exceeds Christian virtue.

Pope Francis said that clericalism is our ugliest perversion. Clericalism, whether fostered by the priests themselves or by laypersons, leads to an excision in the ecclesial body that supports and helps to perpetuate many evils that we are condemning today.

The answer is kenosis I learned recently that the pope is such a fan of the work of Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo that he called Vattimo to congratulate him on his latest book.

As a result, I was led to give

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Clericalism got us into this mess by wrapping up our self-concern in the mantle of “protecting the good name of the Church�. We will get out of this mess—if we ever do—only by abandoning all attempts to be anything other than totally open.

Evidently, our leaders have not all yet reached this point. Kenosis, it seems sometimes, is reserved for God, but divine kenosis is really a teaching tool on the way to achieving true humanity.

What’s needed from us

Dr Siphiwe Mkhize says that at almost every level in the Church, there is a need for radical reform—which will involve kenosis, or self-emptying.

Photo: Stefano Rellandini, Reuters/CNS) more attention to Vattimo’s prescription for ecclesial health: What the Church needs is more kenosis!

Kenonis has been defined as becoming entirely receptive to God’s divine will, as exhibited in Jesus’ “self-emptying� surrender to the Father’s will (see Phil 2:7).

In face of the Church’s continuing struggle with scandals of sexual and financial abuse, everyone rightly proclaims the importance of becoming more humble. In the light of history, we would be foolish not to proclaim the importance of becoming more humble.

Humility, however, is not enough.

The very nature of the Church involves at its heart pastoral action to heal the hearts of men and women who are suffering. Kenosis is one remedy for this suffering.

Humility is a virtue, but kenosis is a practice.

The two, of course, belong together, though while kenosis cannot happen without humility, humility doesn’t always lead to kenosis.

The intensely humble Pope Francis has every sense in proclaiming that this attitude requires change.

In fact, of course, in Charles Dickens’ novels and in the Catholic Church, any humility that is merely cringing is pretty much the opposite of true humility.

Kenosis, or self-emptying, is what happens when our need to be humbled is patterned after the divine life.

Discipleship needs humility In the Incarnation, Paul says in Philippians, it is God who empties the self of God in becoming human in Jesus Christ. In a strange way, we know that Christ is God in history because he was, for all his compassionate and healing actions, in human terms, a figure of weakness and failure.

Discipleship of Christ begins in humility, which should not be hard for human beings who have open eyes. But it has to continue in the actions that humility requires—the self-emptying that stands as a sign of contradiction to the world around us. Even if it is destined to end in failure.

There is a lesson in divine kenosis for a Church struggling with resolution to the ongoing crises of sex abuse and abuse of power.

God’s parallel to human humility is divine compassion, and kenosis is the action that cashes in that level of concern.

A truly humble Church, patterned after the life of Christ, will empty out all self-concern in the pursuit of purification.

The kenosis demand of clergy is pretty obvious; discipleship of Christ requires service before prestige or, more accurately, only the prestige that follows from a life of service that is not seeking that kind of recognition.

But what is not quite so obvious is that there is no kenosis if there is no action. Interior acts of humility, however sincere, do not cut it.

What will clergy in general and bishops in particular do? One thing they could do would be to act on the conviction that there is a difference between Church management and sacramental leadership, and that management is not a clerical charism.

Step aside and let qualified laity do what qualified laity are qualified to do.

The kenosis demand of the lay community is less obvious but equally important.

The virtue of humility has been preached to the laity for many centuries and very successfully internalised.

This contributed considerably to the ease with which bishops could hide predatory priests from the law.

But the humility the Church preaches to the laity is deeply akenotic because it calls for no action at all. It not only does not involve actions that grow out of humility, it positively discourages them.

Lay humility assumed by the laity cannot accept that understanding of the virtue.

The humility of the Hebrew prophets did not prevent them from challenging their leaders, even if this put their lives in danger.

Self-emptying for the laity today is not about giving up prestige, but rather giving up the comfort that accompanies passivity.

Every time we do not speak when we should, or when we do not act when action is called for, we are failing in our discipleship of Christ who personifies the selfemptying of God. n Dr Siphiwe F Mkhize is an author and ethicist, and a member of St Dominic’s church in Hillcrest, KwaZuluNatal. He delivered this year’s Denis Hurley Memorial Lecture.

TRAVEL

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

21

Did angels really carry Mary’s house to Italy?

Pope Francis has declared a Jubilee Year for the shrine of Our Lady of Loreto in Italy, to run until December 10, 2020.

COURTNEY MARES tells us more about this popular site of pilgrimage.

W

HAT do Galileo, Mozart, Descartes, Cervantes, and St Thérèse of Lisieux have in common?

They all travelled hundreds of kilometres to step inside the Virgin Mary’s house, which is preserved inside a basilica in the small Italian town of Loreto.

Catholic pilgrims have flocked to the Holy House of Loreto since the 14th century to stand inside the walls where tradition holds the Virgin Mary was born, raised, and greeted by the Angel Gabriel.

In other words, if it is actually the house of Nazareth, it is where the “Word became Flesh” at the Annunciation, a point on which the history of humanity turned.

There is an often-repeated story that angels carried the Holy House from Palestine to Italy.

While modern listeners may doubt the legend’s veracity, historic documents have vindicated the beliefs of pious pilgrims over the centuries—with an ironic twist.

Tradition holds that the Holy House arrived in Loreto on December 10, 1294 after a miraculous rescue from the Holy Land as the Crusaders were driven out of Pales-

tine at the end of the 13th century.

In 1900, the pope’s physician, Joseph Lapponi, discovered documents in the Vatican archive, stating that in the 13th century a noble Byzantine family, the Angeli family, rescued “materials” from “Our Lady’s House” from Muslim invaders and then had them transported to Italy for the building of a shrine.

The name Angeli means “angels” in both Greek and Latin.

Is the house real?

Further historic diplomatic correspondences—not published until 1985—discuss the “holy stones taken away from the House of Our Lady, Mother of God”. In 1294, “holy stones” were included in the dowry of Ithamar Angeli for her marriage to Philip II of Anjou.

A coin minted by a member of the Angeli family was also found in the foundations of the house in Loreto. In Italy, coins were often inserted into a building’s foundations to indicate who was responsible for its construction.

Excavations in both Nazareth and Loreto found similar materials at both sites. The stones that make up the lower part of the walls of the Holy House in Loreto appear to have been finished with a technique particular to the Nabataeans, which was also widespread in Palestine.

There are inscriptions in syncopated Greek characters with contiguous Hebrew letters that read “O Jesus Christ, Son of God”, written in the same style inscribed in the grotto in Nazareth.

Archaeologists also confirmed a tradition of Loreto that third century Christians had transformed

The sanctuary church with Our Lady’s house in Loreto. The popular shrine is currently celebrating a Jubilee Year. (Photo: Claudia Peck) Mary’s house in Nazareth into a place of worship by building a synagogue-style church around the house.

A 7th-century bishop who travelled to Nazareth noted a church built at the house where the Annunciation took place.

Saintly pilgrims From St Francis de Sales to St Louis de Montfort, many saints visited the Holy House of Loreto over the centuries. St Charles Borromeo, a leading figure of the Counter-Re-

formation, made four pilgrimages, in 1566, 1572, 1579 and 1583.

St John Paul II in 1993 called the Holy House of Loreto the “foremost shrine of international import dedicated to the Blessed Virgin”.

The victory over the Turks at Lepanto was attributed to the Virgin of Loreto by St Pius V, leading both General Marcantonio Colonna and John of Austria to make pilgrimages to the shrine in 1571 and 1576 respectively.

Christopher Columbus made a vow to the Madonna of Loreto in

1493 when he and his crew were caught in a storm during their return journey from the Americas.

He later sent a sailor to Loreto on a pilgrimage of thanksgiving on behalf of the entire crew.

Queen Christina of Sweden offered her royal crown and sceptre to the Virgin Mary in Loreto in 1655 after her conversion from the Lutheran faith to Catholicism.

As Bishop Giacomo della Chiesa, Pope Benedict XV organised a pilgrimage to Loreto. As pope in 1920, he proclaimed Our Lady of Loreto the universal patron saint of all those who travel by air.

In March 1969, astronaut Commander James McDivitt took a medal of Our Lady of Loreto on the Apollo 9 flight.

But not all visits were rooted in piety. Napoleon plundered the shrine and its treasury on February 13, 1797, taking with him precious jewels and other gifts offered to the Virgin Mary by European aristocracy, including several French monarchs, over the centuries.

Yet, the object of real value in the eyes of pilgrims, the Holy House of Mary, was left unharmed.

Earlier this year Pope Francis declared 2020 a Jubilee Year in Loreto, to mark the centenary of Benedict XV’s proclamation of Our Lady of Loreto as patron of air travellers.

The Jubilee will run until December 10, 2020. n The Southern Cross’ pilgrimage to Italy, Croatia and Medjugorje, led by Archbishop Stephen Brislin from May 18-27, 2020 includes a visit to Loreto.

See www.fowlertours.co.za/medju for details or contact Gail at info@fowlertours.co.za

Wishing a our customers a Bleed Christmas & a Prosperous New Year Dryden Drs Management & Sta

22

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

LIFE

Room for newborns in Bethlehem clinic Two-thousand years ago, Jesus was born in a cave in Bethlehem. Today, many of the Palestinian city’s babies come into the world in a Catholic hospital, as KEVIN JONES reports.

F

OR almost two millennia, Christian pilgrims have come to the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to pray, remembering the special place where Jesus Christ was born.

Just a kilometre away from the Nativity basilica, the Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem also strives to be a special place for newborn babies, and their families.

“The doors are open to everyone, regardless of creed or need,” said Michele Burke Bowe, a hospital board member who is president of the linked Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem Foundation.

“The most important thing to know is that it’s a Catholic teaching hospital that’s 1 500 steps away from the manger where Christ was born.”

Beneath the church of the Nativity is a grotto where Jesus is said to have been born. According to the Gospel of Luke, Joseph and the Virgin Mary had to place Jesus in a manger because there was no room at an inn.

“To me it’s the most beautiful Catholic mission: to be able to say ‘yes, we have room’, and to be able to take care of those babies and their mothers,” Ms Bowe said.

Ms Bowe, a mother of five and an economist by training, also serves as an ambassador of the Order of Malta to the State of Palestine.

The Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem was originally founded as a general hospital in the 1880s by the Daughters of Charity. It was forced to close in the mid-1980s.

Later that decade, it reopened as a maternity hospital, under the oversight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

The hospital now helps deliver close to 4 500 babies per year. Most of the mothers are Muslim, while others are Palestinian Christians.

“The demand is just growing.

We’re the only hospital that can care for any baby born before 32 weeks,” Ms Bowe said.

Because Bethlehem is surrounded by Israel’s separation wall and checkpoints, the city’s residents are denied easy access to medical care in nearby Jerusalem.

The hospital has a capacity of 62 beds, including an 18-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It is the only health provider for high-risk pregnancies in the Bethlehem district in Palestine’s West Bank.

About 10% of the hospital’s newborns must go to the NICU, a higher rate than ordinary hospitals

because it accepts all cases with complications or emergencies.

Every prem is resuscitated At the same time, the hospital has a very low mortality rate.

“The most important thing is that it’s Catholic and a teaching hospital,” Ms Bowe said. “And of course, ‘Catholic’ means that it’s pro-life. Every baby is resuscitated.”

She recounted seeing dangerously low-weight newborns recover and go home with their parents.

“We’re saving a lot of lives. These babies and their mothers, in many cases, just wouldn’t live,” Ms Bowe said.

“It’s just such a miracle,” she added. “Our statistics are much better than you could hope for. I honestly think it’s the Blessed Mother who makes sure that things turn out right.”

At least half of patient costs are subsidised by the Holy Family Hospital Foundation, the Order of Malta and other benefactors.

“It’s very expensive to keep a baby in the NICU for five months,” Ms Bowe said. “It makes no sense economically. But that’s why we’re there: to support people and give hope.”

Partnerships with a refugee camp’s women’s group employs two women to make hats for the newborns, knitted in a traditional Palestinian style.

“They’re very cute white hats,” said Ms Bowe. “The babies are get-

Newborns in the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem, just a kilometre from the place where Jesus was born. (Photo: Courtesy of Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem Foundation) ting a free hat, as this time of year is quite cold. Central heating is rare.”

Any jobs benefit residents of the camp, which suffers from very high unemployment.

“It’s a win-win situation, where the women of the refugee camps are helping the babies of Bethlehem,” said Ms Bowe.

The hospital sells knitted handbags to raise awareness and funds, while the Order of Malta purchases aprons for its uniform on pilgrimages to Lourdes.

Ms Bowe stressed the hospital’s teaching emphasis, saying it has trained “generations and generations” of medical professionals. In its early years, the hospital worked with Bethlehem University—also Catholic-founded—to open a school for midwifery.

The hospital’s staff numbers about 20 consultant and resident doctors, as well as 80 midwives, nurses and other paramedical staff.

All of these are Palestinian. Another 140 medical workers trained at the hospital have worked in Palestine over the years.

Going into the desert

May the joy of o the rebirth th off the Christ -Child fill your homes andd l lives with th llove andd peace thhis h Christmas. h t With love, St Pauluss Te T Team Tea am

Ms Bowe said the biggest success of the hospital is its ability to adapt.

Over 20 years ago it launched a vehicle-based mobile medical unit to visit villages in the desert and outlying areas.

“That was very revolutionary,” said Ms Bowe. Over two decades of consistent coverage has had a real impact, compared to communities that are outside of the hospital’s catchment area, limited by financial resources.

“Their children are having dental issues, they’re having growthstunting,” Ms Bowe said. “They’re the same demographic. The difference is our clinic.”

The hospital incorporates teaching into every visit. Mothers are taught how to care for their children, what pregnancy involves, and more. “The teaching in this village has made a huge difference,” said Ms Bowe.

Young newly-married women often come to the hospital with their mothers or mothers-in-law, who are themselves women in need of health care.

“We realised that these mothers and mothers-in-law hadn’t been to the doctor since they delivered their last baby. No cancer screening, nothing,” Ms Bowe said. “You can

have a lot of issues associated with that. So we opened up a clinic that we call the Well-Woman Clinic.”

At first the clinics had very few visits because such visits were not part of the culture. Hospital staff then began going to refugee camps, church groups, and the women’s union to teach women about preventive care, menopause and health issues that come with age but can be fixed.

“Now, we have hundreds of women coming to the clinic,” Ms Bowe reported.

“Some of them need laparoscopic surgery or conventional surgery, and we do those. We take women who are confined very close to home, close to the restroom. We give them a surgery or treat them.

Then they can restore their dignity and go out to work or take care of the children,” she explained.

“I’m really impressed with the way the hospital doesn’t rest on its laurels. It’s constantly thinking of new ways to serve the people.”

Care across faiths The interreligious nature of the hospital is another characteristic.

“When you put people together in the hospital, their goals are to provide the best care, the best, lifesaving pro-life care, to the mothers and the babies,” Ms Bowe said.

“We employ Christians and Muslims. It’s a very high-quality workplace environment where they can learn together and serve together,” she said. At a time of significant stratification between religions, the hospital is “a place where this isn’t even an issue”.

“We have a Christmas party and Christmas trees,” Ms Bowe said.

“We’re a Catholic hospital: we have crucifixes and icons and statues of the Blessed Mother and the Holy Family. But we also have a Ramadan Party.”

For Ms Bowe, the biggest lesson is Christians’ and Muslims’ common roots in the Abrahamic faith.

“We’re People of the Book,” she said. “In my experience, having been going there since the ‘70s, we’re really just the same people.”

Ms Bowe has also witnessed some religious crossover, at one of Christianity’s holiest sites.

“When I go to the church of the Nativity, down into the grotto to pray, I often see young Muslim women in there,” she said. “They look to be of the age that they’re praying for a baby.”—CNA

wish Archbishop Buti, Bishop Duncan, all the clergy and religious, our benefactors, friends, staff and residents and the staff of The Southern Cross

www.stpaulus.co.za

Our grateful thanks for your prayers and loving support for our Sisters, the elderly, the children and the less fortunate in our care throughout 2019. We assure you of our prayers for every blessing in the coming year.

LIFE

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

23

Ancient churches show early Holy Land pilgrims Unearthed churches in Israel and the West Bank show that early Christians in the Holy Land were making pilgrimages, as JUDITH SUDILOVSKY explains.

T

WO unearthed Byzantine church complexes shed light on the tradition of Christian pilgrimage in the Holy Land.

The churches, according to Catholic archaeological scholars in Jerusalem, were most likely sites of veneration for local Christians rather than for pilgrims from abroad.

“Most people only think about pilgrims coming from outside, but local pilgrimage was also important in Byzantine times, as it is today,” said Franciscan Father Eugenio Alliata, archaeology professor at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum.

“These discoveries are very important [in that they] show that many local people were visiting these places and venerating these holy places.”

Significantly, both of the complexes include two separate church buildings.

One of the complexes is a wellpreserved Byzantine-era church complex uncovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority just outside of Jerusalem near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh.

A ten-line inscription, found intact in a floor mosaic in the courtyard, dedicated the church, built in around 543 AD, to a “glorious martyr”.

Benjamin Storchan, director of

the Beit Shemesh excavation for the Israel Antiquities Authority, said although the martyr’s identity is not known, the extraordinary splendour of the structure and its inscriptions indicate the person was an important figure in early Christianity and was well-known by early pilgrims of the nascent faith.

He noted that in Byzantine times, it was customary to hold only one Communion ceremony per day in a chapel, and he conjectured that having two churches allowed more pilgrims to receive the Eucharist.

Treasure vandalised Fr Alliata said another church— dedicated to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist—was discovered earlier in Khirbet Midras, near Beit Shemesh, and is mentioned by sources, including Byzantine-era Greek church historian Sozomen.

Unfortunately, that site was vandalised by some ultra-Orthodox Jewish residents of Beit Shemesh.

There are remains of churches all over the Holy Land, said Fr Alliata.

“Especially during the Byzantine time, it was rich in settlements and rich in religious places. In some places there were synagogues and in other places there were more churches.”

The “Glorious Martyr Church” in Beit Shemesh is among the few churches in Israel discovered with fully intact crypts, Mr Storchan said.

“The crypt was accessed via parallel staircases: one leading down into the chamber, the other leading back up into the prayer hall. This enabled large groups of Christian pilgrims to visit the place,” he said.

Mr Storchan said the vaulted double stairway indicates the church had once been a major pil-

An inscription from the floor of a 6th-century Byzantine church in Beit Shemesh, Israel. (Photo: Assaf Peretz/Israel Antiquities Authority) grimage site for early Christians and is similar in construction to that of the double staircase at the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Mr Storchan noted the systematic storage of liturgical elements and other items they found in the back of the church.

It would seem that the church had been abandoned by its inhabitants rather than ravished or destroyed by outside forces.

“We see how they thought to close up and try to separate material in an organised way,” he said. “The last people here closed the door. It is as if they knew they had to go, and closed it and hoped they would be back.”

All the entrances were found blocked and sealed with large stones, he said.

Dedicated to St Stephen?

The other two churches recently uncovered, whose ruins were less well-preserved, are located in Khirbet et-Tireh, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

They are being excavated by Dr Salah Hussein Al-Houdalieh of the Institute of Archaeology at the Palestinian Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, in cooperation with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.

Khirbet et-Tireh was inhabited during the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic periods and was later used as agricultural land throughout the Ottoman-Turkish period and down to modern times, said Dr Al-Houdalieh.

However, 75% of its historic fortified space has been destroyed over

the past few decades by development construction.

Among the surviving architectural structures are a Byzantine monastery and two Byzantine-era churches.

The entire area of the church was once paved with mosaic carpets of richly coloured stones. Dr AlHoudalieh said human remains discovered at the site were transported in 2015 in a solemn funeral procession to the Greek Orthodox church in Ramallah; they were reinterred there.

Dr Al-Houdalieh has suggested that Khirbet et-Tireh could be the burial site of St Stephen, the first deacon and martyr of the church of Jerusalem; however, traditionally it is believed that his tomb was at the Salesian monastery in Beit Jimal, just outside Beit Shemesh.

Fr Alliata said it is likely that the churches in Khirbet et-Tireh were dedicated to St Stephen. The churches were most probably places for local Christians to venerate the saint, he said, without making what was then an arduous journey to Jerusalem.

Jesuit Father Josef Mario Briffa, a lecturer of archaeology at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Jerusalem, said that, during the Byzantine period, local Christians needed to feel a part of the pilgrimage routes.

He said one of the more important points of the two excavations is that they are not being conducted

by Christian archaeologists but by Jewish and Muslim archaeologists.

“This is of interest not just for Christian archaeologists or just Christians. This is the religious heritage of the Holy Land in a wider sense,” he said.—CNS

Wishing you peace and joy this Christmas and throughout the coming year

From the Head of College, Principals and staff of Sacred Heart College Marist Observatory, Johannesburg

www.sacredheart.co.za | 011487 9000 | info@sacredheart.co.za

24

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

PERSPECTIVE

Mining and the common good Pope Francis has told CEOs of mining houses some tough truths, as JOHN CAPEL recounts.

But will they listen?

I

T is often said that the best-kept secret of the Catholic Church is its social teachings, which go back to 1892.

The social teachings touch on economics, the political environment, the ecological crisis and global warming and, of course, the poor, marginalised, and vulnerable.

The central message of the social teachings is always the integral development of the human person, human dignity, solidarity, subsidiarity and a meaningful existence, and that production should be at the service of people, and not vice versa.

The latest social teaching, Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, was put to 30 mining CEOs and to 30 Church leaders in May this year.

Representatives from across the world, including South Africa, attended the “Mining for the Common Good” conference in Rome, coordinated by Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

This all begun in 2013 when Anglo-American’s CEO Mark Cutifani, along with other mining CEOs, approached the Holy See to ask for direction due to the bad image of mining globally.

This resulted in Britain, South Africa and Latin American countries

Members of a rescue team carry a body recovered in January, after a dam collapsed in Brumadinho, Brazil.

Addressing mining CEOs and leaders, Pope Francis called for real social responsibility. (Photo: Washington Alves, Reuters/CNS) having their own Church and mining dialogues.

It seems mines want some legitimacy but simultaneously are faced with the problem of communities who no longer want mining.

Communities bear the biggest impacts from mining, ranging from ill health to livelihoods destroyed.

At the Rome meeting, the Latin American Church and Mining Network put on display a photo of the Brumadinho dam disaster on January 25 this year in Brazil, in which 189 people were killed. The dam is owned by Brazilian mining company Vale, the same group involved in the

2015 Mariana dam disaster.

Both disasters could have been avoided.

Pope Francis, who addressed the gathering, was the one to clearly give the meeting direction.

He welcomed the dialogue, then relayed his message to participants.

Speaking about the fierce and savage nature of capitalism, he said: “The precarious condition of our common home has been the result largely of a fallacious economic model that has been followed too long.

“It is a voracious model: profitorientated, short-sighted, and based

on the misconception of unlimited economic growth.”

This insatiable, unquenchable, uncontrollable and greedy model of the present economic system was challenged. Pope Francis called on all to do something.

Resistance to change He noted that although we frequently see disastrous impacts on the natural world and in the lives of people, we are still resistant to change.

“Economic powers continue to justify the current global system where priority tends to be given to the pursuit of financial gain, which fails to take the context into account, the effects on human dignity and the natural environment,” the pope said.

He went on to say that the market itself cannot guarantee integral human development, and that environmental protection cannot be assured solely on the basis of financial calculations of costs and benefits.

“We need a paradigm shift in all our economic activities, including mining,” Pope Francis said.

“Mining, like all economic activities, should be at the service of the entire human community [and] consensus should always be reached between the different stakeholders, who can offer a variety of approaches, solutions and alternatives.

“And the involvement of the local community is important at every phase of mining project,” the pope told the mining experts. “The local population should have a special place at the table.”

Communities are concerned about their own future and that of their children, he noted. They “can consider goals transcending immediate economic interests, reinforcing the right to say no and the right to say yes to alternative forms of development”.

Indigenous communities “are not merely one minority among many, but should be the principal dialogue partners, especially when large projects affecting their land are proposed. These vulnerable communities have a lot to teach us,” Pope Francis said.

“For them land is not a commodity but rather a gift from God and from their ancestors, who rest there, a sacred space with which they need to interact if they are to maintain their identity and values.”

These are fragile communities, the pope said, and pressure is being put on them to abandon their homelands to make space for mining—which is then undertaken without regard for the degradation of nature and culture.

Mere corporate social responsibility is not enough, he told the CEOs.

A dangerous loop Pope Francis noted that “extractivism” means extracting the greatest amount of materials in the shortest space of time and convert-

ing them into products that others will market and use, but which nature will receive in the form of polluting waste.

It is a consumerist loop that is being generated at ever-greater speed and ever-greater risk.

The pope denounced this throwaway culture, saying that we need a circular model of production capable of preserving resources for present and future generations.

He said we need to limit as much as possible the use of non-renewable resources, moderate consumption, and maximise efficiency.

Pope Francis’ position was that we need a circular economy of proximity, whereby local economies develop strongly, but with moderation and an emphasis on recycling and reuse. This is vital to save our common home, the Earth.

The pope told the mining executives: “We need to see that what is at stake is our common dignity.

Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is, first and foremost, up to us.”

Whether this message got through to the mining companies present is doubtful, as their economic model flies in the face of the common good.

Pope Francis’ message that communities should be first at the table and his call on the present economic model to put people first is a huge challenge to an industry focused on short-term financial gains, at a cost to the wellbeing of people and the natural environment.

Laudato Si’ talks to all of us, but especially the extractivist industry.

Will time run out?

Six years have passed since the first discussions, and although we hear some ramblings about change and listening by the industry, they have not yet fully internalised the messages given to them.

Given global heating, water pollution, net biodiversity loss, the rapacious nature of the present economic model, and time running out, so much has to be done in such a short timeframe.

The looming global catastrophe means we all face a huge challenge to bring change now.

We must therefore challenge Anglo American, De Beers, Anglo Gold Ashanti and so on to concretely, in every phase of mining projects, involve communities and civil society organisations who offer a variety of alternatives, solutions, and approaches, as well as respecting communities’ right to say no and the right to self-determine their destinies.

Nevertheless, there are things the industry can do now.

We need to level the playing field between mines and communities, addressing skewed power relations.

Concretely, this means the industry should support the Bench Marks Foundation and civil society initiative instrument called the Independent Capacity Building Fund, which address skewed power relations, allowing communities more informed decision-making.

Secondly, the mining industry is called to adopt the civil society-supported Independent Problem Solving Service, using impartial facilitators to resolve conflicts that lead to developmental outcomes.

It is a truism that dialogue is not possible in an unequal power relationship, but dialogue among equals opens ways to solutions.

This is how legitimacy is attained. Only when mines fully engage with fragile communities in ways that allow negotiations between equals will engagements like this bear any fruit.

And that, perhaps, may lead to an economic model that is fairer, equitable, respectful of human dignity and human rights, and not harmful to the natural world. n John Capel is the executive director of the Bench Marks Foundation.

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

Your CLASSIfIeDS

Fr Owen Wilcock

F

ATHER Owen Mark Wilcock of Port Elizabeth diocese died in a motor accident in Mokopane in Limpopo on December 3, the 24th anniversary of his ordination.

Fellow priest Fr Sibusiso Zulu of Eshowe diocese also died. Frs John Selemela and Ricardo Smuts were injured. All four priests were from St John Vianney Seminary.

Fr Wilcock was born on November 15, 1963, in East London. He attended St Mark’s Primary School in Mbabane, Holy Cross Convent in Aliwal North and Komga Secondary School, and matriculated from Queens College.

After he matriculated, he worked for Standard Bank before entering St John Vianney Seminary. Fr Wilcock was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Michael Coleman at Sacred Heart parish, King William’s Town on December 3, 1995.

After his ordination he served the communities in Woodlands, Keiskammahoek, St Andrew’s Breidbach, Dimbaza and outlying areas and Immaculate Conception in East London.

From 2007-09 Fr Wilcock studied moral theology at Urbaniana University in Rome.

Upon his return he was appointed formator and financial administrator at St John Vianney until 2014.

In 2015 he returned to the diocese and was appointed as priest in charge at Holy Spirit parish, Arcadia.

From 2018 to the time of his death, Fr Wilcock was back at St John Vianney as a formator and lecturer. He also served as alternate dean, diaconate coordinator and secretary to the Eastern Province Sick Priests’ Fund.

Fr Christopher Slater, vicar general of Port Elizabeth diocese, said Fr Wilcock possessed a softnatured personality and firmness of heart.

“His gentleness embraced his

heartfelt devotion and dedication to his call to the priesthood.

He lived his life with honest integrity, and this was reflected in his pastoral and teaching ministry,” Fr Slater said.

“He loved the task of forming prospective priests just as he loved the pastoral mission of instructing people in the faith.

“Fr Owen had an unpretentious approach to life and a conscientious attitude towards all tasks, and his celebration of the sacraments was always done with liturgical care and depth.

“His death was completely untimely and will leave a void in the lives of so many in the Church community, the seminary community, his parents and siblings, his family and friends.”

F

r Lubabalo Mguda, dean of the Port Elizabeth deanery, also paid tribute to Fr Wilcock.

“I met Owen for the first time in 1997 in Woodlands mission outside King William’s Town. He was an assistant priest at the time and I had just completed my first year at St Francis Xavier Seminary,” said Fr Mguda.

“It was an encounter that started an unlikely alliance, association and friendship.

“Owen was a very caring, friendly and genuine person. He never forgot a birthday or an anniversary.

“He was a man of integrity, honesty and fairness. In the language of the Bible, he was a righteous or just man.

“He gave the whole of himself to the priesthood. He was dedicated to his role as a seminary lecturer, formator and administrator.

There were no half measures with him, it was all or nothing.

“His tragic passing has left us completely shattered and confused. There is no theological explanation that can make any sense of the wasteful death of our beloved Owen.”

Fr Jerry Browne, chair of the

25

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Port Elizabeth Diocesan Council of Priests, said Fr Wilcock was “a priest of immense talent and integrity who sought to live in his life the values of the Gospel that he professed”.

“Fr Owen had a gift for organisation and administration, gifts that came to the fore in the parishes in which he served and later in his work and ministry at the seminary,” Fr Browne said.

“He will be greatly missed by the many parishioners he served, the clergy who worked alongside him, and his family and friends.”

Mgr Brendan Deenihan, senior priest of the diocese and chair of the Eastern Province Sick Priests’ Fund, commended Fr Wilcock as ”a most efficient and diligent secretary of our sick priests’ fund”.

“My fondest memory of Owen is when he was studying in Rome for his future assignment to lecture at St John Vianney Seminary,” Mgr Deenihan said.

“I spent a week in Rome with him and he took me all over and introduced me to so much of our Catholic heritage.

“The morning of his tragic death, I was in communication with him wishing him a blessed ordination feast day. So sad to think he died on his feast day.

“Owen was a most wonderful and faithful priest.”

Fr Wilcock is survived by his mother and father Chris and Sanet, and family members Lisa and Niekie, and Wendy.

FROM OUR VAULTS 54 Years ago: December 22, 1965

De oLIveIrA: Jose. Died December 27, 2018, in his 80th year. I miss you. I miss your voice. I miss your smile. I miss your smell. I miss your hug and kiss. I miss your jokes. I miss how you made me feel. I miss your everything. Loving memories forever. Eileen.

DonneLLY: Eugene. In loving memory of our longstanding colleague, friend and loyal servant of The Southern Cross who left us on December 18, 2011.

Fondly remembered by the staff of The Southern Cross.

SWArDLInG: Reece Miyagi. 05/10/1988 to 20/12/2012. As we reach seven years since your passing, we are still left broken-hearted, void of your smile, your laugh, your stories, your bubbly outgoing nature and all the amazing love you showed us every day. We miss you dearly. We love you with all our hearts. Thank you for being such a wonderful part of our family. Thank you for being our guardian angel now. Love always from Mum, Dad, Livy, Reagan and Trinity.

SWArDLInG: Christine Tootoo. 25/12/1931 to 26/11/2019. Eighty-seven years and 11 months was not enough. Your passing has left a huge hole in our

Bl Simon venerated no more The Vatican Congregation of Rites has banned further veneration of Bl Simon of Trent, a small boy allegedly murdered by Jews in 1475. Investigations established that Simon was probably killed by nonJews who blamed Jews for the crime.

Now implement Vatican II In his editorial, Fr Louis Stubbs writes that with the final session of the Second Vatican Council drawing to an end, “it is now that throughout the whole Church the work of implementing the directions of the council must become more and more effectively done”.

ABortIon: Monthly Sunday Mass bidding prayer: “That Almighty God guide our nation to cease our murders of our unborn infants.”

hoLIDAY ACCoMMoDAtIon

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PrAYerS

ALMIGhtY GoD, from whom all thoughts of truth and peace proceed, kindle in the hearts of all men the true love of peace, and guide with Your pure and peaceable wisdom those who make decisions for the nations of the earth; that in tranquility Your kingdom may go forward, till the earth be filled with the knowledge of Your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let nothInG DISturB You, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing; God only is changeless.

Patience gains all things.

Who has God wants nothing. God alone suffices. St Teresa of Avila

This week we congratulate: December 23: Bishop Graham Rose of Dundee on his 68th birthday December 26: Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg on his 72nd birthday

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The Rhodesian government has banned The Southern Cross issue of December 8, 1965, which included an article headed “Blank space on page: Rhodesian government censors editorial in Catholic paper”. That Catholic paper was Moto, an influential lay-run publication which criticised Prime Minister Ian Smith’s unilateral declaration of independence.

Two South Africans will be ordained to the priesthood by Pope Paul VI: Revs Edward Adams (future bishop of Oudtshoorn) and Gerard Masters of Cape Town. Rev Maxwell Salsone of Port Elizabeth will be ordained in his home diocese. All three are studying at Propaganda College in Rome.

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Our bishops’ anniversaries

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hearts. We miss you so much already. Our first Christmas and your birthday without you. We pray the angels celebrate with you. We love you Tootoo.

We miss you dearly. Thank you for your unconditional love. Love always, Anthony, Charmaine, Olivia, Reagan and Trinity

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 894. ACROSS: 3 Antiochus, 8 Leah, 9 Plainsong, 10 Severe, 11 Amber, 14 Henry, 15 Tear, 16 Sheba, 18 Mass, 20 Thing, 21 Taunt, 24 Anselm, 25 Handshake, 26 Acts, 27 Amendment. DOWN: 1 Blasphemy, 2 Calvinist, 4 Nile, 5 Idiom, 6 Casket, 7 Urns, 9 Prays, 11 Alert, 12 Residence, 13 Trigamist, 17 Atone, 19 Sadden, 22 Nahum, 23 Palm, 24 Akin.

Liturgical Calendar Year A – Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday December 22, 4th Sunday of Advent Isaiah7:10-14, Psalm 24:1-6, Romans 1:1-7, Matthew1:18-24 Monday December 23, St John of Kanty Malachi 3:1-4; 4: 5-6 (3: 1-4, 23-24), Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14, Luke 1:57-66 Tuesday December 24 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-12, 14, 16, Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29, Luke 1:67-79.

Evening Vigil: Isaiah 62:1-5, Psalm 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29, Acts 13:16-17, 22-25, Matthew 1:1-25 Wednesday December 25, Nativity of Christ Midnight Mass: Isaiah 9:2-7 (1-6), Psalm 96:1-3, 11-13, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-14 Mass at Dawn: Isaiah 62:11-12, Psalm

97:1, 6, 11-12, Titus 3:4-7, Luke 2:15-20 Mass During the Day: Isaiah 52:7-10, Psalm 98:1-6, Hebrews 1:1-6, John 1:1-18 Thursday December 26, St Stephen, First Martyr Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59, Psalm31:3-4, 6, 8, 16-17, Matthew 10:17-22 Friday December 27, St John 1 John 1:1-4, Psalm 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12, John 20:2-8 Saturday December 28, Holy Innocents 1 John 1:5--2:2, Psalm 124:2-5, 7-8, Matthew 2:13-18 Sunday December 29, Holy Family Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14, Psalm 128:1-5, Colossians 3:12-21, Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

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editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za), Business Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za), Advisory editor: Michael Shackleton, Local news: Erin Carelse (e.carelse@scross.co.za) editorial: Claire Allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), Mary Leveson (m.leveson@scross.co.za), Advertising: Yolanda Timm (advertising@scross.co.za), Subscriptions: Michelle Perry (subscriptions@scross.co.za), Accounts: Desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za), Directors: R Shields (Chair), Bishop S Sipuka, S Duval, E Jackson, B Jordan, Sr H Makoro CPS, C Mathieson*, G Stubbs

opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect those of the editor, staff or directors of The Southern Cross.

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the

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The Feast of the Holy Family: December 29 Readings: Ecclesiasticus 3:2-6, 12-14, Psalm 128:1-5, Colossians 3:12-21, Matthew 2:1315, 19-23

Guide to living as family

Nicholas King SJ

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And seventh: “The one who listens to the Lord will give rest to his mother.”

(Are you feeling our author may have been having trouble with the younger generation?)

Then he gets down to business: “Child, look after your father in his old age; and do not grieve him in his life. Even if he loses his understanding, be forgiving, and do not dishonour him with all your strength.”

The climax of the argument is this: “Alms given to your father will not be forgotten, and it will be put down to you as a sin-offering.”

You get the picture…

The psalm for next Sunday is a lovely hymn about the joys of family life.

It starts with, “Happy are all those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways”; and it turns out that they are going to be rewarded with a model family: “Your wife like a fruitful vine within your home; your children like olive plants around your table.”

Then comes a lovely ending: “May the Lord bless you from Sion, and may you see the goodness of Jerusalem, all the days of your life.”

The second reading is from Colossians, encouraging us to “put on the bowels of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness,

family (indeed the Holy Family) operates.

God is at work, in the shape of “Look! The angel of the Lord”, appearing to Joseph in a dream. Joseph is told precisely what to do: “Up you get and take the little child and flee to Egypt.”

We notice that Joseph does not say anything, though he might have reflected that Egypt is a place not to flee to, but to flee from.

Instead, he does precisely what he is told: “He got up, and took the little child and its mother, by night, and went up into Egypt.”

Here we should notice two important details: the journey is undertaken by night (like the Exodus from Egypt), and it is described as “going up”, when all Matthew’s readers knew that you go up to Jerusalem and to the Holy Land, not anywhere else.

But God is guiding the story, as we can see from the two scripture fulfilments and the two dreams; and the result is that this family, which is open to God, is going to perform its God-given task of saving the vulnerable infant from those who are seeking to kill it.

That is what our families can do for us.

HAT did your family ever do for you?

It is a sign of the ancient wisdom of the Church that we are given this feast on the Sunday after Christmas, a time that can put so much strain on families. The readings for the feast give us some clues about the point of having a family.

The first reading comes, we surmise, from an older man who knows what a family can do, but is also aware that there are temptations to the younger generation, which they must resist.

He offers several arguments for this.

First: “The Lord glorified a father over his children, and strengthened a mother’s verdict over her sons.”

Secondly: “The one who honours his father atones for sins.”

Thirdly: “The one who glorifies his mother is like someone saving up riches.”

Fourthly, there is a reminder to look ahead to the time when the young in turn become parents: “The one who honours his father will be rejoiced by his children.”

Fifthly, God is in the story: “He will be heard on the day when he prays”.

Sixth: “The one who glories his father will have length of days.”

patience, as is appropriate for God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved”.

That should help us to behave properly in our family setting, “putting up with each other and forgiving them if someone has a reproach against somebody”. (Did you manage this over Christmas?)

There is a sporting metaphor, too: “May the peace of Christ referee in your hearts… and be grateful.”

This creates a very attractive atmosphere; and, just at the end, our author gets down to talking about family: “Wives—be subordinated to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.” And just as you were about to belabour Paul for being against women, you hear the instructions to husbands: “Love your wives—and don’t get bitter against them.”

Even children get a warning: “Obey your parents in every respect.” But this is not so as to avoid a hiding, but “because this is pleasing in the Lord”. And he lays down the law for the older generation also: “Parents: don’t provoke your children, so as to make them depressed.”

Would all this teaching be helpful in your family, do you think?

But enough of laying down the law; the Gospel for next Sunday tells us how a good

Double message of Christmas I

challenge: “We need to challenge our society towards more justice!” “We need to challenge the world to have real faith and not confuse God’s word with its own wishes.” “We need to challenge our world towards a more responsible sexual ethos.

We’ve lost our way!” Wonderful, needed challenges, all of them.

But no group came back and said: “We need to challenge the world to receive God’s consolation!”

Granted, there’s a lot of injustice, violence, racism, sexism, greed, selfishness, sexual irresponsibility, and self-serving faith around; but most of the adults in our world are also living in a lot of pain, anxiety, disappointment, loss, depression, and unresolved guilt. Everywhere you look, you see heavy hearts.

Moreover, so many people living with hurt and disappointment do not see God and the Church as an answer to their pain but rather as somehow part of its cause.

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o our Churches, in preaching God’s word, need first of all to assure the world of God’s love, God’s concern, and God’s forgiveness.

Before doing anything else, God’s word is meant to comfort us; indeed, to be the ultimate source of all comfort. Only when the world knows God’s consolation will it accept the concomitant challenge.

Conrad

’VE never been happy with some of my activist friends who send out Christmas cards with messages like: “May the Peace of Christ Disturb You!” Can’t we have one day a year to be happy and celebrate without having our already unhappy selves shaken with more guilt? Isn’t Christmas a time when we can enjoy being children again?

Moreover, as Fr Karl Rahner once said, isn’t Christmas a time when God gives us permission to be a happy? So why not?

Well, it’s complex. Christmas is a time when God gives us permission to be happy, when the message from God speaks through the voice of Isaiah and says: “Comfort my people. Speak words of comfort!”

But Christmas is also a time that points out that when God was born, there wasn’t room for him in any normal home or place.

There was no room for him at the inn.

Peoples’ busy lives and expectations kept them from offering him a place to be born. That hasn’t changed.

But first, the comfort of his birth. A number of years ago, I participated in a large diocesan synod. At one point we were divide into small groups. Each was asked to answer the question: “What’s the single most-important thing that the Church should challenge the world with right now?”

The groups reported back, and each named some important spiritual or moral

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Sunday Reflections

Southern Crossword #894

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

And that challenge, among others, then is to make room for Christ at the inn—to open our hearts, our homes, and our world as places were Christ can come and live.

From the safe distance of 2 000 years, we too easily make a scathing judgment on people at the time of Jesus’ birth for not knowing what Mary and Joseph were carrying, not making a proper place for Jesus to be born, and not recognising him as Messiah afterwards. How could they be so blind?

But that same judgment is still being made of us. We aren’t exactly making room in our own inns.

When a new person is born into this world, he or she takes a space where before there was no one. Sometimes that new person is warmly welcomed and a cozy, loving space is instantly created.

But that isn’t always the case; sometimes, as with Jesus, there is no space created for the new person to enter the world and his or her presence is unwelcome.

We see this today (and this will constitute a judgment on our generation) in the reluctance, almost all over the world, to welcome new immigrants, to make room for them at the inn.

The United Nations estimates that there are 19,5 million refugees in the world today, persons whom no one will welcome.

Why not? We are not bad people and we are capable most times of being wonderfully generous. But letting this flood of immigrants enter our lives would disturb us. Our lives would have to change. We would lose some of our present comforts, our old familiarities, and our securities.

We are not bad people, nor were those innkeepers 2 000 years ago who, not knowing what was unfolding, in inculpable ignorance turned Mary and Joseph away.

I’ve always had secret sympathy for them. Maybe as I am still, unknowingly, doing just what they did. A friend of mine is fond of saying: “I’m against more immigrants being allowed in…now that we’re in!”

The peace of Christ, the message inside of Christ’s birth, and the skewed circumstances of his birth, if understood, cannot but disturb. May they also bring deep consolation.

ACROSS 3. Into such a change the king of Syria appears (9) 8. Jacob’s wife (4) 9. Liturgical chant that is not fancy (9) 10. Slice off to the east. It is harsh (6) 11. The resin in the cautionary traffic light? (5) 14. The eighth king of the Reformation (5) 15. A drop of sorrow? (4) 16. Its queen visited King Solomon (5) 18. Museum assistant holds liturgical celebration (4) 20. An object from the night (5) 21. Mock and jeer at (5) 24. Men Sal got together for the Archbishop of Canterbury (6) 25. Liturgical greeting (9) 26. What an Apostle does in the New Testament? (4) 27. Improvement to the law (9)

DOWN 1. Profane talk (9) 2. Protestant (9) 4. Line up in Africa (4) 5. A manner of speaking (5) 6. A box for the body (6) 7. In which to store ashes (4) 9. Requests God (5) 11. Dominican saint loses first battle and is aware of it (5) 12. Where to find the priest at home (9) 13. He marries more than once (9) 17. Make up for sin (5) 19. Cause you to weep (6) 22. Prophet who turned human (5) 23. Tree ready on Sunday before Easter (4) 24. Very much like a family member? (4)

Solutions on page 25

CHURCH CHUCKLE

T

HE catechist was telling children the Bible narrative of the birth of Jesus.

She then wanted to see if the kids had been paying attention and posed a trick question: “Who was the first to know of the Messiah’s birth: the shepherds or the Wise Men?” Quick as a flash, a girl answered: “Mary!”

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CH RIST MAS 15

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The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

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15 movies to see at Christmas There are many Christmas movies, but how many of them are actually good and edifying? GüNTHER SIMMERMACHER picks 15 seasonal films to see.

10. The Polar Express (2004) What’s the story? A boy is taken on a magic train to Santa’s village in the North Pole, and Tom Hanks voices seven characters in this beautifully animated film.

Christmas hook: Well, Santa’s village. Plus, the value of believing in things that can’t be seen defines the idea of having faith.

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OR Catholics, finding suitable Christmas movies is a challenge.

Most seasonal movies are Hallmark fare, with all the predictable clichés one may expect (and some might even want) from them.

A fairly recent fashion has been to introduce a cynical edge to seasonal movies, with assorted inebriated Santas wreaking their own brand of comedic mayhem. You may laugh, but you won’t be edified.

Some even regard films as Christmas movies which happen to have bells jingling somewhere. But a jingling bell on its own tells us nothing about Christmas. The 1988 action movie Die Hard may be set on Christmas Eve, but it has very little to do with Christmas.

So, what is a proper Christmas movie? At the very least, it should have some reference to Christmas as a feast of goodwill.

Don’t expect to see much by way of the feast of the Nativity in the movies: Christ rarely is the subject of Christmas...

Still, there are some films that communicate a Christian message: of generosity, of decency, of wonder, of hope, of faith. And sometimes, between the lines, we can see God in Santa Claus. In other words: the movies make you look for spiritual nourishment on your own steam.

Here are 15 movies which convey the right spirit at Christmas.

A couple feature recurrent actors: Henry Travers, as an angel in It’s A

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9. The Bishop’s Wife (1947)

Charlie Brown learns what Christmas is all about in 1965.

Wonderful Life and a miser in The Bells of St Mary’s, both directed by Catholics, Frank Capra and Leo McCarey respectively; and Catholic actress Loretta Young as a nun in Come To The Stable, and as the eponymous lead in The Bishop’s Wife.

15. Fred Claus (2007) What’s the story? Santa gets help from his jealous brother while a wicked business consultant wants to shut the elves’ toy factory.

Christmas hook: Personal redemption and plenty of heartwarming stuff about the importance of family and forgiveness, and ultimately redemption.

14. Fanny And Alexander (1982) What’s the story? A very long experience of a Swedish Christmas in the early 1900s, directed by Ingmar Bergman, who is less gloomy than usual.

Christmas hook: The adults are quite complicated, but the children still have that Christmas wonder.

Theirs is directed at the traditions of Christmas; ours should be directed

at the birth of the Lord while still having that child-like wonder.

13. Come To The Stable (1949) What’s the story? A true story of nuns (Loretta Young and Celeste Holm) who try to build a children’s hospital, against the usual odds.

Christmas hook: The Sisters are inspired by pictures of Nativity scenes and the little town of Bethlehem.

12. The Christmas Shoes (2002) What’s the story? A lost pair of shoes is at the centre of a story involving a boy, his terminally ill mother and heartless father. The one made-for-TV movie to watch.

Christmas hook: Spoiler alert— someone learns the meaning of Christmas.

11. The Bells of St Mary’s (1945) What’s the story? The most Catholic, if not most Christmassy, of films, as a priest (Bing Crosby) and a nun (Ingrid Berman) try to save a parish school.

Christmas hook: “With holly in your heart, it’s Christmas all year.”

Plus, a most delightful Nativity Play.

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Sc a l a b r i n i F a t h e r s & St . P a t r i c k P a r i s h La R o c h el l e

What’s the story? A bishop prays for help to fund the construction of a cathedral, and an angel comes from heaven to help. David Niven and Cary Grant in one movie? It must be heaven.

Christmas hook: The bishop’s prayer gets answered, but not in the way he envisaged. Bonus: A Christmas sermon.

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Wiisshh yoou a Merrrryy Chhrrissttmas & Haaappp H Hap ppy py Neeww Year 202 020 To all our donors, bene efactors, sponsors, parishioner rs and community. A biig Tha ank you for all your support.

Thhe Wordd ooff God becaame flles esh and hass pitc tched hiss teent amongg uss, divviiniity di ttyy hass become unite ted ttoo humaniity ty and tthhe Inviissiiibble hass become ty viissiiibble, thhe Allll--Powerfful has as become weak,, thhe Eteernnal Onne hass beggunn too exxiisst, thhe Immense hass become liimite ted, he hass become what he wass not, with thout ceassiinngg too be who he wass. - Bleessssed Scalabriini

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Capra’s movies—ties in with Christian ethics.

5. Joyeux Noël (2006) What’s the story? Scottish, French and German soldiers in the trenches of World War I spontaneously cease fire on Christmas Eve when they hear the enemy singing Christmas carols.

Christmas hook: The Prince of Peace reigns, if only for a short while before the killing resumes.

4. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) What’s the story? Santa Claus must convince doubters that he is real.

Christmas hook: The film not just criticises but also satirises the commercialisation of Christmas, and calls us to have faith even when everybody else doubts.

8. One Magic Christmas (1985)

3. The Nativity Story (2006)

What’s the story? An unlikely angel (played by Harry Dean Stanton) takes charge of the Christmas spirit amid all kinds of tragic events.

Christmas hook: Faith in the goodness of the world is restored, and the Christmas spirit is alive.

What’s the story? Apparently the first-ever Hollywood film about the Nativity of the Lord. Though told from a perspective of Protestant theology, it is reverent and premiered in the Vatican.

Christmas hook: Christ’s birth.

7. Silent Night (2013)

2. A Christmas Carol (1951)

What’s the story? How the world’s most famous Christmas carol was written by a priest and a choirmaster. (Not to be confused with horror shlock flick Silent Night, Bloody Night).

Christmas hook: Silent Night, and indeed Holy Night.

What’s the story? Miser Scrooge makes a conversion thanks to visits from chronological ghosts. There are many versions; let’s settle for the one with Alastair Sim as Scrooge.

Christmas hook: Bad guy turns good on Christmas: the redemption we all are capable of.

6. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)

1. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

What’s the story? A kind-hearted banker (James Stewart) contemplates suicide on Christmas Eve until a guardian angel shows him how much worse the world would have been had he never been born.

Christmas hook: The timing is Christmas, and the message of the impact of our goodness on others— a recurrent theme in director Frank

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What’s the story? Our animated friends smash the commercialisation and secularisation of Christmas. Tie-in merchandise sold separately.

Christmas hook: All of it, especially Linus reading Luke’s Nativity narrative. “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

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The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

CH RIST MAS

Christmas thoughts from 1700 years ago One of the great poets of the ages, St Ephrem of Syria left us with a treasure of profound Christmas reflections. Who was he, and what did he say about Christmas almost 1 700 years ago? PHILIP WERNER explains.

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O you know St Ephrem of Syria? This Christmas is a good time to meet him, for he wrote some magnificent reflections on the feast of the Nativity.

St Ephrem lived in the 4th century and is one of the Fathers of the Church. He is also a Doctor of the Church, one of only 36 men and women who bear that title.

Ephrem was born in around 306 AD, a time of the last persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, in Nisibis (now Nusaybin in Turkey). He was about seven when Christianity was legalised.

His parents were Christians, and as a youth Ephrem was baptised. Possibly at the same time, he consecrated himself to the Church and was made a deacon.

As a deacon he composed hymns and wrote biblical reflections. Ephrem is credited with founding the theological School of Nisibis, which would become the centre of learning of the Syriac Orthodox Church.

Growing up, he witnessed a Church that was gaining in confidence under the patronage of Emperor Constantine, but was also troubled by division, especially in

Helpless and divine

11th-century mosaic of St Ephrem of Syria in the Nea Moni monastery on the Greek island of Chios. the dispute over the Arian heresy.

And after the death of Constantine in 337, Nisibis was repeatedly besieged by King Shapur II of Persia. The first two sieges were miraculously repelled. The third, however, ended with the surrender of the city to Persia and the expulsion of its Christians in 363.

Ephrem moved to Edessa, a centre of philosophical and religious debate (and, sometimes, confrontation). Loyal to the Nicene Creed, which the Arians rejected, Ephrem composed countless hymns in defence of orthodoxy.

Many of his hymns are still being used in Syriac churches.

He died on June 3, 373, from the plague, having been infected as he was tending to the sick. He was immediately regarded as a saint.

Pope Benedict XV proclaimed St Ephrem a Doctor of the Church in 1920. The Catholic Church marks his feast day on June 9.

Among the hundreds of St Ephrem’s hymns which have survived, at least 19 are on the theme of Christmas. A recurrent theme in those is the juxtaposition of the innocent, helpless baby Jesus with the divine Christ.

So he could write: “When he sucked the milk of Mary, he was suckling all with life. While He was lying on his mother’s bosom, in his bosom were all creatures lying. He was silent as a babe, and yet he was making his creatures execute all his commands” (Hymns on the Nativity, 3).

The mother’s bosom was a repeated subject: “The bosom of Mary amazes me, that it sufficed for you, Lord, and embraced you.

All creation was too small to conceal your majesty; heaven and earth too narrow, to be in the likeness of wings, to cover your Godhead. Too small for you was the bosom of earth; great enough for you was the bosom of Mary” (Hymn 16) Returning to Hymn 3: “Mary bare the silent babe, while in him were hidden all tongues! Joseph bare him, and in him was hidden a nature more ancient than anything that is old! The High One became as a little child, and in him was hidden a treasure of wisdom sufficing for all! Though Most High, yet he sucked the milk of Mary, and of his goodness all creatures suck!

“He is the Breast of Life, and the Breath of Life; the dead suck from his life and revive. Without the breath of the air no man lives, without the Might of the Son no man subsists. On his living breath

St Dominic’s CATHOLIC SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, BOKSBURG

Dear Lord, Thank you for our school, our parish, our Catholic community, our parents and our children.

Thank you for the privilege of learning, of playing, of growing.

Help us to work together to be kind, to be understanding and to do our best every day.

Bless us and be with us over the festive season.

Open Day

Amen

8 February 2020 | 09h00 to 12h00 | Grade 0000 to Grade 12

Kruger Road Boksburg | marketing@stdominics.co.za

A painting of Mary suckling Jesus is seen in the Milk Grotto in Bethlehem, which tradition says is the cave where the Holy Family hid during the massacre of the innocents. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher) that quickens all, depend the spirits that are above and that are beneath.”

Hymn 4 has Mary lulling her babe with autobiographical words: “Who has given me, the barren, that I should conceive and bring forth this one that is manifold; a little one, that is great; for that he is wholly with me, and wholly everywhere?

“The day that Gabriel came in unto my low estate, he made me free instead of a handmaid, of a sudden: for I was the handmaid of Your Divine Nature, and am also the mother of your human nature, O Lord and Son! “Of a sudden the handmaid became the King’s daughter in you, you Son of the King. Lo, the meanest in the house of David, by reason of you, you Son of David, lo, a daughter of earth has attained unto heaven by the Heavenly One! “‘How am I astonished that there is laid before me a Child, older than all things! His eye is gazing unceasingly upon Heaven. As for the stammering of his mouth,

to my seeming it betokens, that with God its silence speaks.”

What are we celebrating?

In Hymn 11, Mary continues to address her son, knowing that this child belongs not to her but to the world: “I shall not be jealous, my son, that you are with me and also with all men. Be God to him that confesses you, and be Lord to him that serves you, and be brother to him that loves you, that you may gain all.”

And what are we celebrating at Christmas? In the long Hymn 15, St Ephrem tells us: “Celebrate, O nations, this feast, first fruits of all feasts; recount the sufferings that were, and the wounds and pains, that we may know what plagues he healed, the Son who was sent.

“Celebrate, O saved nations, him who saves all in his birth.

Even my feeble tongue has become a harp through his mercy.

“The excellency of the firstborn, in his festival let us sing: Blessed is he who has made us meet for his feast!”

CH RIST MAS

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

29

When the Christmas spirit is missing...

Some people just can’t get into the Christmas spirit.

SARAH GARONE was one of them, until she had an epiphany.

Journalist Hannah Brockhaus in St George’s cathedral in Beirut, Lebanon. In her article, she tells of her experience of Christmas Eve Mass there last year.

I

My Christmas Eve Mass in Beirut

BY HANNAH BROCKHAUS

O

N the evening before Christmas, the city of Beirut was decked with lights and trees and Nativity scenes. A festive glow covered everything as people made their way to the various Catholic and Christian churches for Midnight Mass.

In central Beirut, the traffic around St George’s cathedral was heavy with cars and pedestrians as my colleague Alexey Gotovsky and I arrived for Mass last Christmas Eve. Muslim families, too, could be seen walking around the streets, enjoying the festive atmosphere and the air fresh off the nearby Mediterranean Sea. Inspired by the basilica of Mary Major in Rome and built from 1886-94, St George’s is the Maronite Catholic cathedral for the archdiocese of Beirut.

The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic Church sui iuris, in full communion with Rome, which celebrates the liturgy according to the West Syriac rite.

The cathedral, like other Catholic and Orthodox churches on the evening of December 24, was guarded by a handful of armed military police.

Lebanon is relatively stable and safe, but in recent years churches in other parts of the Middle East have been targets of attacks on important feast days, meaning precautions must be taken.

The large cathedral was almost full for Christmas Mass at midnight, though there was a steady stream of people who would wander in to sit at the back for five or ten minutes, or longer, before de-

St George’s cathedral in Beirut. parting again.

Maronites celebrate the Mass in Arabic, a language they share with their Muslim neighbours who worship in the grand Mohammed alAmin mosque, situated next door.

The Mass was not quite an hour and a half long. When it finished, and almost all the people had left the church, the choir, a group of around 25 young adults descended from the choir loft, had already changed out of their red robes.

They gathered at the front of the church, to the left, by the altar which holds the tabernacle and the already consecrated hosts. A priest approached to give them Holy Communion as men gathered up the video camera cables from the floor around them.

As they stepped up to receive, the group caught my attention as they broke out in song: “Bless the Lord, my soul, and bless his holy name.”

I approached to listen, the a capella harmonies were the first English-language hymn I had heard since arriving in Lebanon.— CNA

T hits me at odd times throughout the year, in small, fleeing sparks: that feeling of perfect warmth and wonder that embodies Christmastime.

Perhaps it’s a childhood memory triggered by a passing conversation or a Christmas carol crossing my mind in August. Whatever the source, I do all I can to savour the feeling, capture it, and save it up for later. Because I know, when Christmastime comes, I may or may not feel how I’m “supposed” to.

It’s all around us, the pressure to feel a certain way during the holidays. The one-word designs found on mugs, sweaters, and Christmas cards can seem more like commands than celebrations: “Wonder.” “Celebrate.” “Rejoice.”

At church, when we hear the Gospel account of the Incarnation—God’s incredible, universechanging gift of his Son to mankind—there’s a prescriptive element: be moved to awe and reverence.

But what if it’s the 67th time we’ve heard the Christmas story, so it just doesn’t feel very fresh anymore, or grief over a lost loved one is weighing heavy on us these days, or we just want this season of excesses to be over?

For any number of reasons, sometimes the “right” feelings don’t come at the right time.

For a long time, I tried to force myself into the “correct” emotions of Christmas, and found I couldn’t.

Overcommitment, strained family relationships and other circumstances beyond my control meant my Christmas did not look like I thought it should.

Therefore, the feelings of joy and wonder I expected wouldn’t come.

It didn’t help either that I stubbornly clung to the belief that I should feel the same about Christmas in adulthood as I had during childhood.

The childhood triggers When I was a kid, all it took to send me into yuletide ecstasy was the opening guitar strums of Amy Grant’s “Tennessee Christmas” and the taking down of the first box of ornaments. Why wasn’t that true anymore?

It wasn’t until I learned to let go

St Patrick’s Missionary Society

May your Christmas be filled with grace, joy and favour, and may May the blessing of knowing Christ enrich your life in 2020

Contact fr terry nash on 072 668 2705 or fr Michael Murphy on 082 564 9096

St Patrick’s Missionary Society P O Box 1394829 Northmead 1511

We may want to be in the “prescribed” Christmas mood, but sometimes we just don’t feel it. That’s when we may need to change our expectations, as Sarah Garone advises from her own experience. of expectations and embrace whatever was good about my Christmas season that I began to enjoy the holiday more.

I remember exactly where I was when the first inklings of this concept hit me. It was Christmas Eve. The kids had been tucked in awaiting the present frenzy of the next day, and my husband had just left the house to play music at midnight Mass. I sat alone in a comfortable leather chair in front a cozy fire.

As is common for me when left alone with my own thoughts, I began musing self-pityingly on the broken relationships that prevent me from seeing extended family on Christmas Eve like I used to. Then, I turned to my other sad tactic of berating myself for not feeling awe, wonder, and perfect peace on this holiest of nights.

A new realisation But as I looked into the crackling fire that night, it dawned on me: I may not feel awe, wonder, and perfect peace right this second, but I do feel…good. Really good.

No, I’m not with aunts, uncles, and cousins, but I am here in my home, wrapped in a warm fleece blanket. I just ate a delicious slice of cranberry-apple pie. I have a husband and three wonderful children to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol with. What’s not to love about all of that?

Besides, how could I expect to experience wonder in the same way now that I did as a child? True wonder involves elements of surprise and curiosity that adults simply don’t possess in the same quantities

as kids.

This line of thinking set me on a new path in my emotional approach to Christmas. There’s really no law stating my (or your) Christmas has to be any particular way or involve any particular feelings.

The Bethlehem story doesn’t come with an asterisk at the bottom saying, “Please note: If you’re not currently inspired with ultimate joy, you’re doing it wrong.”

But in two separate places in the New Testament epistles, Paul instructs believers to “cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9 and 1 Thessalonians 5:21). This has become my new Christmas goal.

All of us can mindfully acknowledge pleasures and blessings large and small this time of year. Perhaps Christmas doesn’t look quite like the picture prints. But a steamy mug of hot chocolate on a cold night, watching It’s A Wonderful Life, or not having to work for a few days?

Those are good things I can cling to. Even if all I feel is thankful for those little things, thankful is good.

Thankful can be enough.

I’ve given up trying to force any prescribed feelings at Christmas.

I’ve even tried to let go of requiring certain traditions to happen.

Instead, I commit to looking for whatever is good in the season, acknowledging it, and giving thanks for it.

And wouldn’t you know it?

Christmas is much more enjoyable when I do. n Sarah Garone is a US-based food blogger and freelance writer. This article was originally published on Bustedhalo.com.

We, the Oakford Dominican Sisters wish all patrons

God’s Blessing & Peace This Christmas season and for 2020

We thank you for your support throughout the years.

We invite you to come and spend some quality time in retreat to deepen your relationship with Christ in the coming year.

Our 2020 Brochure can be sent to you via email: stdominic@eastcoast.co.za or found on www.stdominicsbluff.org.za

30

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

JorDAn: Mgr Mauro Lalli of the apostolic nunciature in Amman, Jordan, celebrates Christmas Eve Mass at the Franciscan Moses Memorial church on Mount. Nebo, where Moses first saw the Promised Land before he died. (Photo: Dale Gavlak/CNS)

CH RIST MAS

AuStrIA: A Christmas display is seen at a home in Bad Tatzmannsdorf, in the eastern Burgenland region. (Photo: Leonhard Foeger, Reuters/CNS)

ChInA: A Tibetan Catholic carries a cross as he walks in a procession on Christmas Eve in Diqing, China. (Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters/CNS)

Christmas around the World

PAKIStAn: St Patrick’s church in Karachi is seen ahead of Christmas. (Photo: Shazaib Akber, EPA/CNS)

vAtICAn: This year’s Vatican Christmas tree sparkles after a lighting ceremony in St Peter’s Square. Also see page 10. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

frAnCe: A Nativity scene is displayed inside Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, a few months before the roof of the 13th-century church collapsed into the church’s interior in a devastating fire. (Photo: Günther SimWeSt BAnK: mermacher) Palestinians and tourists take part in the Santa Run outside the Salesian Cremisan monastery in Beit Jala, near Bethlehem.

(Photo: Debbie Hill/ CNSl)

uSA: Yosamer Escalante and Antonia Castro cut hair at an annual Homeless Fair at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines, Illinois. (Photo: Karen Callaway/ Chicago Catholic)

ruSSIA: People gather near a light display in Moscow.

(Photo: Tatyana Makeyeva, Reuters /CNS)

To all my brother clergy and sister religious and the poor missions of Southern Africa

Prayerful, Joyful, Good Wishes to all Missions South Africa for a Magnificent and Most Blessed Christmas

Never was there such a Son, Never was there such a Mother

With much love, Father Ralph

GerMAnY: People visit the Christmas Market in Breitnau, near Freiburg, in the Black Forest. (Photo: Ronald Wittek, EPA/CNS)

CH RIST MAS

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

31

From Vienna to Brooklyn NYC SHORT STORY BY FR RALPH DE HAHN

P

ASTOR Jim Dunn was appointed to the parish church on 68th Street in Brooklyn, New York City. He and his wife, Edna, had moved in in about 1956.

The church building was not a pretty sight. Once it had been a very popular parish, but being old and located in a declining neighbourhood, it needed a lot of paint and repair.

Jim and Edna delighted in the task of renovating the building, with the goal of making it presentable for the Christmas Eve service.

But misfortune struck! Just three days before Christmas, a heavy storm swept through Brooklyn and the wall behind the altar in the sanctuary just crumbled. The plaster was soaked with water and left a gaping hole in the back wall.

“This could be the end of our Christmas service,” cried Edna. Jim, however, was more optimistic: “The Lord will provide.”

And so he did! Dejected yet hopeful, the couple visited a local auction organised by the Women’s League.

Edna was thrilled to discover a 8m hand-embroidered tablecloth which she envisaged as a covering for the ugly hole behind the altar. Jim agreed and the cloth was purchased for $3,50.

Once the repair work was completed, the ornate tablecloth was hung up to cover the ragged hole in the church.

Christmas Eve arrived. It was a chilly morning; the singing wind found the tiny snowflakes dancing to its tune. Because of the cold, the church was opened in the early

morning, long before the service, to give a warm refuge for many.

A lonely, aged woman slowly shuffled into a back pew. She was alone and looked very depressed.

The woman sat there quietly, maybe at prayer.

Pastor Jim finally saw her and decided she likely was a widow. He moved slowly towards her, but her gaze swept past him and was fixed on the back wall of the sanctuary.

She stood up and began to move cautiously up the aisle, her gaze fixed on the ornate cloth across the wall.

“That’s mine!” she cried out.

“That’s my very special cloth! I made it, it’s my work.”

Jim drew close to her; she was shaking with the thrill of this surprise discovery here in Brooklyn.

And then she told him the amazing story. “My name is Lisa. My husband and I lived in Vienna before World War ll; we were so happy,” she said, in a lilting Germanic accent.

“Then came the Nazis and all those fearful, horrible days. So we planned to escape to Switzerland.

And we did, but to avoid detection we decided to travel separately.

“I went first across the border, then to London, and then to America. Josef, my husband, was to follow the following day,” she said.

“I waited, and after all these years, perhaps for a miracle. But then I heard from other immigrants that my husband and others were captured by the Nazis and sent off to a concentration camp. I believe he died there with thousands of innocent people.”

Lisa then explained how the tablecloth was her own creation and was used only for special occasions

and banquets in Vienna. She showed Jim her initials embroidered on the masterpiece.

Touched by her story, Jim offered to return the tablecloth to her after the Christmas celebrations. “Oh no, Reverend,” Lisa said, “I’ll never need it again. I am now a widow, and see how pretty it looks up on the wall in the service of the Lord.”

Jim then consulted his wife Edna and they offered Lisa a job as their housekeeper. Lisa was delighted and felt she now belonged to a family.

T

hat night, at the Christmas Eve service, many members of the congregation remarked on the beautiful backdrop on the sanctuary wall, for the flickering candles transformed the cloth into the dazzling brightness of something heavenly.

With the last carol being sung, the

people slowly filed out of the warm church into the chilly night air.

And Jim, after making some seating adjustments, noticed a lone figure in the last pew. He was an old man, alone, wearing an old army overcoat; no hat, no gloves.

The pastor came to him, pitied him, and touched his cold hand: “Happy Christmas, my brother.” The old man sat up, his eyes misty, and without a smile murmured: “I am so happy to be here Pastor, thank you. I am a stranger in this city, an immigrant. I arrived a few weeks ago.”

Jim thought he recognised the accent. “Come out of the cold; we are too close to the front door. Come, let’s move higher up the church.”

Together they slowly moved up the aisle, up to the altar.

It was indeed warmer. The old man raised his eyes to the captivat-

ing tablecloth hanging behind the altar. “Beautiful. I had a wife who did work like that…she was beautiful and very gifted, but that was years ago; she is no more.”

Jim felt a chilling sensation grip his entire body. He seated himself next to the old gentleman on the front pew and gently asked him a number of questions: his name, his country of origin, his experiences during the war...

The church was empty. Jim invited the old man to accompany him to the cloth on the back wall. “Now touch the cloth, and see here, do you recognise this type of material?”

The old man touched the tablecloth with a certain trepidation, so it seemed, spotted the initials—and tears filled his eyes. He gazed into Jim’s eyes “Pastor, this is my wife’s work; this is her cloth. I know it. But she isn’t alive...not after eleven years? ” Both men stood motionless and silently. From behind them came a gentle but animated voice: “Josef?”

There was a gripping pause which allowed time for realisation! “It cannot be! Josef, my darling husband… .alive! Oh God…alive?”

And Jim and Edna, their eyes swamped with tears, observed the tearful, joyful, excited and tender reunion of two people who each believed the other was dead.

“But Josef, you were dead; you were dead for these eleven years,” Lisa said.

“I was, my love. I was, but I am resurrected.” And they embraced and kissed tenderly.

“This is the most wonderful Christmas gift I have ever received,” whispered Lisa. And it certainly was.

32

The Southern Cross, December 18 to December 24, 2019

CH RIST MAS

The Big Southern Cross Christmas Quiz 25 questions to test your Christmas knowledge! Compiled by GĂźnther SIMMerMACher

1. In which country may people wish you Merry Christmas by saying: “Mbotama Malamu!� a) Congo b) Ghana c) Kenya 2. Which Gospel reports that there was no room for Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem? a) Mark b) Matthew c) Luke 3. Who had a 1970s Christmas hit with “When A Child Is Born�? a) Boney M b) Harry Belafonte c) Johnny Mathis 4. Which popular Christmas carol features the lines “For Christ is born of Mary/And gathered all above/While mortals sleep, the angels keep/Their watch of wondering love.� a) Christ Is Born In Bethlehem b) Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem c) Once In Royal David’s City

2. No room for Mary and Joseph

12. Pope Francis, blessing urbi et orbi

8. Rudolph

5. Where do people light candles on the graves of relatives on Christmas Eve? a) Finland b) Panama c) Vietnam

9. What is the Spanish name for Father Christmas? a) Feliz Navidad b) PapĂĄ Noel c) San NicolĂĄs 10. In the carol “We Three Kingsâ€?, which way is the star of wonder and star of light leading the magi? a) East b) South c) West 11. Which was the first country to issue a Christmas postage stamp?

a) Canada b) New Zealand c) United Kingdom

a) December 25 b) January 7 c) January 19

12. In the classic movie Miracle On 34th Street, who played the girl who believed in Santa Claus? a) Judy Garland b) Natalie Wood c) Shirley Temple

17. Which carol sent Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol into a fury? a) God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen b) The First Noel c) We Wish You A Merry Christmas

13. The French word for Christmas is “NoĂŤlâ€?. What was its original meaning? a) Birth b) Incarnation c) Star 14. Which saint’s feast is on the day after Christmas Day? a) Luke b) Joseph c) Stephen 15. What used to be a traditional English Christmas dinner? a) Pig’s head coated with mustard b) Sheep trotters in sherry glazing c) Salmon stuffed with venison mince 16. On which date do Orthodox Ethiopians celebrate Christmas?

18. Who was the Roman emperor when Jesus was born? a) Augustus b) Caligula c) Tiberius

ANSWERS

8. When was Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer invented? a) 1889 b) 1914 c) 1939

20. Stollen

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Springfield Convent School

23. Band Aid

19. Who had a hit in 1984 with “Thank God It’s Christmas�? a) Cliff Richard b) Queen c) Slade

20. Which country does the Christmas bread “Stollen� come from? a) Germany b) Netherlands c) Poland 21. What did my true love give to me on the seventh day? a) Drummers Drumming b) Lords a-Leaping c) Pipers Piping

1. a) Congo; 2. b) Luke; 3. c) Johnny Mathis; 4. b) Oh Little Town of Bethlehem; 5. a) Finland; 6. b) December 25;

7. What does the frankincense which the magi brought the baby Jesus symbolise? a) Burial b) Kingship c) Priesthood

17. Scrooge

16. Ethiopian Christmas

7. c) Priesthood; 8. c) 1939 (Robert L May created Rudolph in a story-poem to attract customers to a department store); 9. c) San Nicolås; 10. c) West; 11. a) Canada; 12. b) Natalie Wood; 13. a) Birth (a corruption of the Latin Natalis); 14. c) St Stephen; 15. a) Pig’s head coated with mustard; 16. b) January 7; 17. a) God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen; 18. a) Augustus; 19. b) Queen; 20. a) Germany; 21. a) Drummers Drumming; 22. a) Abraham; 23. c) George Michael; 24. c) Isaiah; 25. a) St Basil.

6. On which date does the pope give his blessing urbi et orbi? a) December 24 b) December 25 c) December 26

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May peace be your giî„— at Christmas and your blessing all year through

24. Which Old Testament prophet anticipated the birth of Christ? a) Amos b) Hosea c) Isaiah 25. In Greece, which saint brings Christmas presents on January 1? a) St Basil b) St George c) St Nicholas

May the love of Our Lord

embrace you this Christmas and throughout 2020!

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Cardinal Napier, Archbishops, Bishops, Clergy, Cabra Dominican Sisters, Parents, Sta & Pupils a blessed and peaceful Christmas

23. In Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas�, who sings the line, “But say a prayer, pray for the other ones�? a) Bob Geldof b) Bono c) George Michael

To our pilgrims, past and future!

Springfield wishes

22. Who is the first in line in the genealogy of Jesus according to the Gospel of St Matthew? a) Abraham b) Adam c) David

www.fowlertours.co.za

The Missionary Sisters of the Assumption

MARFAM thanks all supporters and wishes them and their families God’s precious Christmas joy and blessings for the year ahead.

send prayerful greetings to all our partners in mission, our families, friends and benefactors, and to the wider Christian community, for peace and joy at Christmas and throughout the New Year.

For unto us a Child is born Isaiah 9:6