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Ten New Year’s resolutions to keep faith fit

Popular cleric’s 60 years as a priest

This was Pope Francis’ year 2019

Page 10

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Centenary Jubilee Year

Page 5

What S. Africa faces in 2020

By ERIN CARELSE

I

T looks like 2020 will be a generally tough and difficult year with Eskom’s crisis, the ongoing state capture investigations, and South Africa’s economic challenges, but there are also signs for hope, according to a Catholic political analyst.

South Africa’s economic problems are becoming more serious and more important than the governance and political problems, said Mike Pothier, senior researcher for the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office.

“At the height of the Zuma era, the corruption of the democratic process and democratic institutions was the real danger. While that was happening we missed that many state-owned enterprises were being slowly captured and corrupted,” he said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, and finance minister Tito Mboweni understand how serious things are, but can’t admit that publically, Mr Pothier said.

“They’re still in this phase of pretending that they are managing the crisis really cleverly, with lots of foresight and with plans in place—but they aren’t. They actually don’t know what to do about it,” he said.

We can’t afford to have things getting any worse with Eskom, Mr Pothier warned. “If Eskom goes down, factories, mines, farms and the country go down, [and] people will starve to death.”

I

n its endeavour to mitigate the country’s water shortages, the Department of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation introduced a national water plan that hopes to combat the water crisis by 2030.

“The plan has been well received by a lot of experts, but there is little faith that the plan is easily translated into real action as the budget for it is R900 billion. Where is that money coming from?” Mr Pothier asked.

“In the short term, if agriculture underperforms again in this coming rain season, particularly in the northern provinces where maize is planted, it’s going to have a hugely negative effect on the economic growth, unemployment, food prices and so on.

“We could find ourselves in that terrible situation that happens to countries, where you get hit from all sides. In our case that

would be drought, climate change, Eskom’s crisis, high unemployment and possible downgrading of our international credit ratings,” he said.

But, Mr Pothier said, it’s important to note that South Africa is also at the mercy of the international community.

“It’s not all about our government getting things wrong historically and now still. We must also realise we’re in a vulnerable global position—and everyone in Africa is.”

The trade war between the United States and China is affecting us negatively, he said.

“The rand weakens and therefore our petrol price goes up. If international economic growth falters, all of those things also have a huge negative impact on us,” he said.

Mr Pothier does see several positive signs for this year though.

D

espite being slow-moving, the commissions of inquiry are a very important way of uncovering corruption at all levels, and we need to be a bit more patient.

The Zondo commission, which sat through the whole of last year, will probably continue for at least the first half of 2020.

“Hopefully we’ll get some indications from Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo about who the guilty parties were in state capture, and some recommendations be made about what government should do,” Mr Pothier said.

“I understand that people want to see charges being laid, and we do need to see people going to court. The National Prosecution Authority has been giving hints recently that they will be doing this soon,” he explained.

Mr Pothier said that we can expect to see ex-President Jacob Zuma in and out of court in 2020. “He is still going to be caught up in the process of trying to appeal against the decision which said no to putting aside his prosecution—but it’s 15 years overdue,” he said.

However, “the mere fact that we have commissions of inquiry is positive because it shows that there are certain procedures, constitutional and legal, which are taken seriously, and we are also seeing the NPA and the Hawks slowly rebuilding themselves”.

Municipal government coalitions which were formed after the 2016 local elections— specifically in the Johannesburg, Tshwane, Continued on page 3

A scene in the domestic life of the Holy Family, with Jesus as a toddler, is depicted in a relief near St Joseph’s church in Nazareth, which commemorates the home of Jesus’ family. December 29 marks the feast of the Holy Family. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher)

Pope: Youths must be activists

By CAROL GLATZ

Y

OUNG people need training in how to be active citizens focused on the care of the human person and the environment, Pope Francis said.

“Technological innovation is also needed to achieve these goals, and young people, if well motivated, will in fact be able to attain them, since they have been born and raised in today’s fast-paced technological world,” he added.

The pope’s remarks came in his address to members of the “A Chance in Life” foundation, formerly known as Boys and Girls Towns of Italy, which helps at-risk youth in many countries.

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Pope Francis praised the organisation’s initiatives that have benefited thousands of boys and girls and “offer children and adolescents in situations of particular hardship a chance to surmount their difficulties and to realise fully God’s plan for each of them.”

To be more effective in carrying out its mission in today’s world, the foundation is also looking for ways to promote recommendations made in the pope’s encyclical, Laudato Si’.

“It is essential to train new generations in the exercise of an active and participatory citizenship centred on the human person and care for the environment,” Pope Francis told them.

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Beloved monsignor celebrated at 60th jubilee

By ERIN CARELSE

T

HE 60th anniversary of ordination of Durban’s Mgr Paul Nadal was an occasion of celebration and looking back at a distinguished life of service, and for the priest to thank those who had supported him.

The former vicar-general of the Durban archdiocese celebrated his diamond jubilee at St Joseph’s church in Morningside at the invitation of parish priest Fr Brett Williams.

“He had been baptised in the old St Joseph’s church, so I thought this would be a great way to celebrate the anniversary,” Fr Williams explained.

Mgr Nadal’s only request was that he wanted to celebrate the day with his lay friends and family, and that the focus was to be on him thanking them for their support and care over the years.

The anniversary Mass was concelebrated by Fr Williams, recentlyordained assistant parish priest Fr Mtshengiseni Dlamini and Fr Pierre Lavoipierre, who also preached.

Celebrating Mass at Mgr Paul Nadal’s diamond jubilee celebration were (from left) Fr Mtshengiseni Dlamini, Fr Pierre Lavoipierre, Mgr Nadal and Fr Brett Williams. (Photo: Sydney Duval) Among those present were Mgr Nadal’s niece Loueen Tolken and nephew Stephen Herisson, cycling friend Manrico Barbieri, running mate Roger Tostee, and friend Anthony Akal, retired head of St Henry’s Marist College.

“Mgr Nadal is the most senior diocesan priest in our archdiocese, and he has been a dedicated and faithful priest for all of those years,” said Fr Williams.

“As a priest it was wonderful for me to celebrate him and to be able

to share and enjoy this milestone with him.”

Journalist and Church activist Sydney Duval, a friend of Mgr Nadal since their seminary days, described the jubilee celebration as an “agape of parish, family and friends”.

“The celebration will be remembered for the generous hosting by Fr Williams, for the stirring and humorous tribute by Fr Lavoipierre and the voice of Cecilia Dobes filling the church and its magnificent mosaics with her thrilling version of Panis Angelicus,” he said.

Mr Duval recalled some of the highlights of Mgr Nadal’s priestly ministry: from his very early days of being sent to Montebello to learn Zulu, to current times with both serving on the Historical Commission of the Cause for the Beatification of Abbot Franz Pfanner, founder of Mariannhill.

“An important signpost was Mgr Paul’s founding of Khanyisa Pastoral and Catechetical Institute at Mariannhill, followed by more studies and degrees and a doctorate in philosophy for his dissertation ‘The

Concept of Transcendence in Marxist Philosophy’ from a Christian perspective,” Mr Duval said.

“Then came the new thrust in catechesis when Mgr Nadal collaborated with Sr Theodula Müller CPS to produce the ‘People of God’ series to echo the realities of the South African situation.”

Mr Duval recalled a day in 1992 when Mgr Nadal appeared at a bishops’ plenary session to introduce RENEW as a way of implementing the Pastoral Plan.

“He spoke with a passion that lit a fire in many of us that day. Here was something new, something heartening, and something inviting to grab hold of,” Mr Duval noted.

“Then he was with us in Cape Town’s Good Hope Centre when 10 000 local Catholics illuminated that vast structure with their candles and their music and their faith to launch their RENEW,” he said.

“Supporting the Pastoral Plan, of being ‘a community serving humanity’, has been an ongoing part of Mgr Nadal’s ministry, even to this day.”

Young Christian Students back in Africa’s fold STAFF REPORTER

F

OR the first time in 25 years, South Africa’s Young Christian Students movement is back in Africa’s fold, with the national chapter taking part, in Harare, Zimbabwe, in its first pan-African council since 1994.

Former Johannesburg Holy Family College student Vimbai Mushwayika represented South Africa.

The YCS movement is an offshoot of Young Christian Workers, founded in the early 1920s in Belgium by Fr (later Cardinal) Joseph Cardijn, who believed that young persons are best placed to develop their leadership.

The first groups were started in Africa in the 1930s. Several of its leaders became part of the independence struggles in the 1950s and ’60s.

“YCS South Africa used to be one of the strongest and most militant Church youth movements during

the anti-apartheid struggle,” said the movement’s local chaplain, Fr Mokesh Morar.

After apartheid ended in 1994, the movement, along with other progressive groups, closed down.

In 2013, Fr Morar started the process of reviving YCS in South Africa, and has motivated and encouraged members to participate more in social, community-based, and constructive activities, such as countering bullying, cleaning up litter, or developing relationships.

The movement currently includes 34 countries in Africa. All members are from three levels of learning institutions: secondary schools, high schools, and tertiary institutions which include universities, teachers’ colleges, polytechnics, and seminaries.

Though predominantly Catholic, the YCS has registered some non-Catholics from mainstream Christian churches.

What SA faces in 2020 Continued from page 1 and Nelson Mandela Bay metros—are facing an unstable period for the next year or so, he said.

“Those coalitions are either collapsing, have collapsed, or are being replaced with other coalitions. We’re already seeing a lot of jockeying for positions, and in the run-up to the 2021 local government elections we will probably see more of that,” Mr Poithier explained, noting this may distract elected officials from doing their jobs.

“They’re going to be spending more of their time playing politics and meeting to strategise and plan instead of running the cities,” he said.

“If we look at where we are, it’s easy to think that things are bad, but a lot of places—not just in Africa—are in a far worse position. At a structural level in our politics, things are improving and they can hopefully continue to improve,” he added.

“Economically, things like our debt-to-GDP ratio is about 60%, which is higher than it’s ever been, but most highly developed countries are much higher than that,” Mr Poithier said.

He also pointed out that some serious moves in the environmental field were being seen.

“South Africa is still transitioning to alternative energy, particularly solar, at quite a high rate, which is by and large a good thing. The price of electricity per kWh has now come down below the cost of coal. So it’s a cheaper form of energy,” Mr Poithier noted.

“Government has also opened up the generation of electricity to private players, as part of the unbundling plan of Eskom, where you could get more and more private owners of power stations coming into play,” he added.

The Church, he said, should continue to speak out on social issues in 2020.

Mr Pothier observed that Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha, president of Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, “has a gift for identifying and understanding crucial social issues as well as the pressure on the government, and he is going to be a great leader in this respect”.

In several countries, significant numbers of young people of other faiths are also part of the movement.

For example, in Mali many Muslims have joined, and in Asia Hindus and Buddhists work hand-in-hand against social ills. In such countries, the movement is known as the Community of Young Believers.

International Young Christian Students is recognised by the United Nations and the Vatican and is part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

The Harare meeting included a two-day study session with a focus on making the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals more inclusive.

The SDGs reviewed in depth were quality education, decent work and economic growth, reduced inequalities, climate action, peace, justice, and strong institutions.

“Afrika is one!” was a slogan raised at the council by several young leaders, reflecting a yearning

for unity and pointing to severe problems facing the continent such as neo-colonialism, wars, xenophobia, Afrophobia, and divisions.

Fr Thumaini Mombili, secretarygeneral of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, gave the keynote speech.

He urged young students to “go out into the streets and start a revolution” as Africa is faced with so much corruption, exploitation and oppression by old and new colonial powers. Fr Mombili stressed this was to be rooted in non-violence and using the Church’s Social Teachings.

Nicol Djangi from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Benson Makhusa from Zimbabwe were elected the new coordinating team for the 2019-23 term.

Outgoing pan-African coordinator Innocent Odongo was elected in September to be part of the Parisbased global IYCS coordinating team.

Parishioner Hezron and senior altar server Jack sell the Southern Cross at Our Lady of the Wayside church in Maryvale, Johannesburg.

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The Southern Cross, December 25 to December 31, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

Why Tagle appointment signals curial reform

By CINDy WOODEN

P

OPE Francis’ move to appoint Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila prefect of the Congregation for Evangelisation of Peoples may signal that his plan for the reform of the Roman curia is close to completion.

The 62-year-old cardinal succeeds Cardinal Fernando Filoni, 73, who since 2011 had led the Vatican office overseeing the Church’s vast mission territories, which include Southern Africa.

Cardinal Filoni will become grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, an organisation that supports Catholics in the Holy Land.

Cardinal Tagle is set to take up his new Vatican post early in 2020. The Congregation for the evangelisation of Peoples, often referred to as Propaganda Fide, is set to become part of a mega-dicastery for Evangelisation, at least according to a draft of the apostolic constitution on the curia, Praedicate Evangelium (“Preach the Gospel”).

According to the draft, distributed for comment, the Congregation for Evangelisation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation will be combined, becoming the first of the dicasteries.

Currently, the first is the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the nuncio to the Philippines, said he

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, Philippines, has been named prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.

(Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) knows Cardinal Tagle’s “heart is broken” at the thought of leaving his country. And even though Filipino Catholics are sad to lose the cardinal, he said, they must give him to the global Church.

Cardinal Tagle, he said, is “the best gift we have to give to the universal Church”.

Mission, evangelisation and dialogue have been recurrent themes in Cardinal Tagle’s teaching, preaching and public speaking.

At the 2012 Synod of Bishops on new evangelisation, then-Arch-

bishop Tagle emphasised the importance of imitating Jesus’ humility and demonstrating real love and concern for all people, particularly “those neglected and despised by the world”.

It was during that 2012 synod, at the age of 55, that he was informed he would be made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI. The consistory to create six cardinals, including Cardinal Tagle, was the last before Pope Benedict resigned three months later.

Born in Manila on June 21, 1957, he entered the seminary in 1973 and began university studies at the Jesuitrun Ateneo de Manila University and San José Seminary in Manila.

Ordained to the priesthood in 1982 for the diocese of Imus, Cardinal Tagle went on to earn a doctorate in theology from the Catholic University of America.

In 2001, he was ordained a bishop and installed as bishop of Imus and, ten years later, he was installed as archbishop of Manila.

Pope Francis chose him as one of the presidents delegate of the 2014 and 2015 synod assemblies on the family.

In 2015, Cardinal Tagle was elected president of Caritas Internationalis, the global confederation of national Catholic charities; he was re-elected to the position in May. And, in late 2014, he was elected to a six-year term as president of the Catholic Biblical Federation.—CNS

German Church seeks new way

By JONATHAN LUXMOORE

G

ERMAN Catholics insist their national “synodal way” reform consultation will have an impact on the Church worldwide, as final preparations were completed for the consultation’s first plenary in January.

“Our bishops’ conference verified the issues—authority, participation, the separation of powers, sexual morality, the priestly form of life, women in church services and orders—and wishes to face these issues, especially because a vast num-

ber of believers await this,” said Matthias Kopp, the German bishops’ Bonn-based spokesman.

“The binding nature of the findings will be the responsibility of all those officially involved. Depending on the issue, the Apostolic See or the local bishop will be responsible for their implementation,” he said.

“But the Holy See decides on the implementation of decisions with universal Church relevance.

The German Church cannot make its own rules on matters affecting

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the universal Church—there is no ‘German special way’ separated from Rome,” Mr Kopp said said.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the lay-led Central Committee of German Catholics, which is co-organising the synodal way, said members of the public had been invited to submit three opinions to each of the working groups: “Power, Participation, Separation of Powers”, “Sexual Morals”, “Priestly Existence”, and “Women in Services and Offices of the Church”.— CNS

Democratic challengers for the 2020 US election: (from left) Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg.

Poll shows how US Catholics may vote

L

ESS than a year before the 2020 US presidential election, a landmark poll of both Catholic and non-Catholic voters found that Catholics largely align with other American voters, representing a broad diversity of political perspectives and plans for the upcoming national election.

The poll, conducted by RealClear Opinion Research in partnership with EWTN News, surveyed 2 055 registered voters; 1 223 of them self-identified as Catholic.

Poll findings offer new insights into how Catholics plan to vote and what issues they value.

Since the “Catholic vote” generally tracks with the outcomes of national elections, the data likely offers insights into the direction campaigns could take and the issues that might be prioritised.

With few exceptions, for generations tracking the preferences of the Catholic vote has been a shortcut to predicting the winner of the popular vote—and I expect 2020 to be no different”, said John Della Volpe, director of the RealClear survey “Like the rest of America, the 22% of people who comprise the Catholic vote is nuanced and diverse. And like America, the diverse viewpoints based on generation, race, and ethnicity are significant and prove that no longer are Catholic voters a monolith,” Mr Della Volpe added.

Democratic challengers to President Donald Trump look to fare

well against the president in the 2020 contest, the survey found.

In hypothetical head-to-head contests, Catholics broke for former vice-president Joe Biden 52% to 39% over Trump (51% to 39% among non-Catholics), 54% to 39% for Bernie Sanders (52% to 40%), 49% to 41% for Elizabeth Warren (50% to 41%), and 46% to 41% for Pete Buttigieg (45% to 40%).

In addition to preferring other candidates in the 2020 election, 55% of Catholics, and 54% of nonCatholics, said they support the impeachment and removal from office of Mr Trump.

On some issues, Catholic voters differ more significantly from their non-Catholic counterparts: 60% of Catholic voters say that the economy is of great concern to them, compared to 54% of nonCatholics, while 54% of Catholics say immigration is an issue of great concern, compared to only 50% of non-Catholics, and 44% of Catholics say climate change is a major issue, compared to 40% of non-Catholics.

And 62% of Catholic voters said they would like Christian values to play a more important role in society, compared to 54% of all voters.

The poll found that among Catholic voters under 35 years of age, 56% are Democrats and 20% are Republicans. Among Catholics over 55 years of age, 45% are Republicans, 36% are Democrats.— CNA

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Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

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HE president of the Pontifical Academy for Life has said that he would be willing to hold the hand of someone dying from assisted suicide, and that he does not see that as lending implicit support for the practice.

Addressing a press conference preceding a two-day symposium on palliative care, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia was asked whether a Catholic or a Catholic priest can be present at someone’s death by assisted suicide.

The archbishop said that he would be willing to do so, because “the Lord never abandons anyone”.

“In this sense, to accompany, to hold the hand of someone who is dying, is, I think a great duty every believer should promote,” Archbishop Paglia said, adding that believers should also provide a contrast to the culture of assisted suicide.

“I believe from our perspective, no one can be abandoned—even if we are against assisted suicide—because we do not want to do death’s dirty work,” he said.

Earlier this month, the bishops of Switzerland released guidance on pastoral care regarding assisted suicide. The document said pastoral caregivers should not be present during a person’s death by assisted suicide.

Asked his thoughts on directives such as these, Archbishop Paglia responded: “Let go of the rules. I believe that no one should be abandoned.”

Archbishop Paglia added that it is a “cruel society” which tries to justify assisted suicide, or which abandons those not deemed “good” enough.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are a “great defeat” for society and can never be transformed it into “a wise choice”, he stressed.—CNA

The Southern Cross, December 25 to December 31, 2019

INTERNATIONAL

This was Pope Francis’ 2019

By CINDy WOODEN

F

OR Pope Francis, 2019 included his sixth anniversary as pope, his 83rd birthday and his 50th anniversary as a priest, but it was also a year that saw him still confronted with the clerical sexual abuse crisis and with Vatican financial scandals.

He earned more points than ever on his frequent-flyer card, making seven foreign trips in 2019, travelling almost 115 000 to visit Panama for World Youth Day, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Romania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Thailand and Japan.

Continuing to push the idea of a “synodal Church”—one in which all the faithful are asked to reflect on specific issues and then the bishops gather to discern practical responses together—Pope Francis hosted a special Synod of Bishops for the Amazon and issued his post-synod document on young people, Christus Vivit.

He also declared that the third Sunday of Ordinary Time—January 26 in 2020—would see a global Catholic focus on reading and praying with the Bible, with a new celebration of the “Sunday of the Word of God”.

In Advent, he issued a short apostolic letter on the meaning and value of Nativity scenes as a prompt for prayer and contemplation, and a simple but profound means of evangelisation.

The crèche, he wrote, “teaches us to contemplate Jesus, to experience God’s love for us, to feel and believe that God is with us and that we are with him, his children, brothers and sisters all, thanks to that child who is the Son of God and the son of the Virgin Mary”.

W

hile continuing to teach about the faith, especially about God’s love and mercy, through his homilies at his intimate morning Masses in the chapel of his residence, at visits to Rome parishes and in his Sunday Angelus addresses, Pope

Francis was also forced to deal head on with the ongoing scandal of clerical sexual abuse and attempts by bishops to cover up allegations.

Pope Francis’ summit on the abuse crisis took place in February with the heads of every bishops’ conference in the world, the heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches and superiors of men’s and women’s religious orders. For four days, they listened to speeches and survivors’ testimonies, held discussions in small groups, and celebrated a penitential liturgy and Mass.

At the end of the summit, the pope pledged to continue work on eight priorities: the protection of children; “impeccable seriousness” in dealing with clerical sexual abuse; genuine purification and acknowledgment of past failures; improved training for priests and religious; strengthening and continually reviewing the guidelines of national bishops’ conferences; assisting victims of clerical sexual abuse; working to end online exploitation of children; and working with civil authorities to end sex tourism.

Less than three months after the summit, Pope Francis issued Vos estis lux mundi (“You are the light of the world”), a set of revised and clarified norms and procedures for holding bishops and religious superiors accountable in protecting minors as well as in protecting members of religious orders and seminarians from abuse.

The document’s title, from Matthew 5:14, frames the need for true accountability and a serious commitment to ending abuse within the very mission of the Catholic Church.

“Our Lord Jesus Christ calls every believer to be a shining example of virtue, integrity and holiness,” the pope wrote; obviously the opposite occurs when young people and vulnerable adults are abused or when bishops, priests and superiors use their position to harass or abuse seminarians and novices.

Three months after Vos estis was released, Pope Francis reached out to

priests around the world outraged by what some priests have done and who have sometimes been attacked publicly because of the crimes of others.

In the letter, published in August in conjunction with the 160th anniversary of the death of St John Vianney, patron of priests, the pope said the crisis must lead to a time of “ecclesial purification” that “makes us realise that without God we are simply dust”.

With the revelations of abuse and cover-up, he said, God “is rescuing us from hypocrisy, from the spirituality of appearances. He is breathing forth his spirit in order to restore the beauty of his bride, caught in adultery”.

5

Pope Francis shakes hands with Sheik Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of Egypt’s al-Azhar mosque and university, during a document signing at an interreligious meeting at the Founder’s Memorial in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photos: Paul Haring/CNS)

T

he abuse crisis is not the only scandal Pope Francis has been forced to confront in an ongoing manner since his election in 2013.

Vatican financial scandals continue to hit the news, but the pope said the latest scandal shows corrective measures put in place by Pope Benedict XVI and strengthened over the past six years are working.

At the beginning of October, Vatican police conducted a raid on offices in the Secretariat of State and in the Vatican financial oversight office following complaints of financial mismanagement. Five employees were suspended and, as the year ended, an official investigation was ongoing. The case, flagged by the Vatican bank, involves a loan requested by the Secretariat of State to finance a property development in London.

Pope Francis told reporters that the entire incident shows that the controls now in place to flag suspicious financial activity and possible corruption are working.

December heralded happier notes with the publication of the short apostolic letter on Nativity scenes, the pope’s 50th anniversary of priesthood on December 13 and his 83rd birthday on December 17.—CNS

Pope Francis greets a young woman as he leads an interreligious meeting with young people at the Maxaquene Pavilion in Maputo, Mozambique.

Pope Francis celebrates Mass for World youth Day pilgrims at St John Paul II Field in Panama City.

Pope Francis and Church leaders from around the world attend a penitential liturgy during a meeting on the protection of minors in the Church at the Vatican. (Photo: Vatican Media)

Pope Francis walks with Romanian Orthodox Patriarch Daniel during a meeting with members of the Orthodox synod at the patriarchal palace in Bucharest, Romania.

VIVA SAFARIS KRUGER PARK with

The pope accepts a plant during the offertory as he celebrates the concluding Mass of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon at the Vatican.

Pope Francis speaks as he pays homage to the holy martyrs at the martyrs’ monument on Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki, Japan.

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

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

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

Mr Zikalala has defended the expenditure.

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

King Goodwill, who has been frequently

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‘King lives it up while the poor suffer’ criticised for lavish spending, has maintained that he is entitled to the money as it is derived from taxes on his subjects.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pope: Set up Nativity cribs

BY CINDY WOODEN

A

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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6

The Southern Cross, December 25 to December 31, 2019

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Our prayers for 2020

E

VERY year we issue our prayer intentions for the coming year. Usually, we include both local and global issues, but this past year has thrown up so many challenges for South Africa that we turn our exclusive focus on this country.

South Africa is still divided by race and class. Our society is marked by both structural and casual racism. Dangerous and divisive rhetoric flourishes on political platforms, on social media, around the braai fire.

The reactions to the recent Rugby World Cup victory and the crowning of Zozibini Tunzi as Miss Universe gave us a sense of national unity (though, it must also be noted, Ms Tunzi was subjected to racist comments after her election as Miss SA).

Our prayer is that South Africans will hold on to the spirit of national unity—to the idea that this fragile unity needn’t be fleeting—and use the shared experience of being “proudly South African” as a basis for defeating prejudices and bigotries.

We also pray that our patriotic sentiment will no longer serve as a pretext to visit violence on residents from other countries.

Neither the race and class divides, nor xenophobia, can be overcome without an economy that is rooted in justice. South Africa has no such economy.

Nine years of systematic and rampant looting by the Zuma government and its conspirators has left our economy in ruin.

These kleptocrats, some of them still in positions of great power and influence, shamelessly stole from the poor.

Our prayer is that those responsible will be held legally and morally accountable for their crimes against South Africa.

The nation’s political and business elites should be encouraged to turn away from their corruption by the rigorous prosecution of those who break the law.

But we must also pray for the conversion of these people, that they may repent and seek to make reparation for their corruption.

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elated to the long era of kleptomania and political incompetence, our economy is further enfeebled by the economic sabotage by parastatals that are supposed to provide its backbone, led

by Eskom and the Post Office.

We are also facing the threat of a water emergency, due to many years of government negligence.

We pray that visionary policies and the appointment of competent personnel, regardless of demographic profile, will reform our troubled parastatals, that they may serve as contributors, not a drain and hazard, to our economy.

Linked to the precarious state of our economy, we must also pray for relief in the disastrous unemployment figures.

The hopelessness created by our poor economy is a major factor in the incidence of crime.

While an improved economy which serves the poor, not the rich, would doubtless reduce crime, we also need a moral regeneration.

Our prayer is that agencies committed to true moral regeneration be supported and given a prominent place in civic discourse.

The incidence of gender-based violence sparked protests and actions in 2019. These protests and actions need to be sustained and intensified in 2020 and beyond.

We pray that a new conscious-

ness will lead to a renewal in a society that has as a priority the safety and autonomy of women and girls.

After it seemed that South Africa had emerged from the abyss of the HIV/Aids emergency, statistics show that the battle has not been won, and the emergency isn’t over.

We pray that judicious actions be implemented to reduce exposure to the risk of contracting HIV. This must also include responsible sexuality education in schools and on campuses.

In February we will mark the 23th anniversary of abortion being legal in South Africa. While none of our political parties show any inclination of reversing this law, we must pray for their conversion.

We also pray that alternatives to abortion be adequately funded and promoted. Every unborn life matters.

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he Church in Southern Africa is facing many challenges but also opportunities.

The division that has been fomented in the United States by those who oppose Pope Francis has inflamed some Catholics in South Africa, to the point that one of them has publicly called for prayers for the Holy Father’s death.

We pray for Pope Francis, and for those who truly serve the People of God with him, that they be protected and guided by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

We pray that those whose actions are directed towards division in the Church will convert from their enmity, and that greater unity among Catholics— and among Christians—will prevail.

In January the bishops of Southern Africa will launch the new pastoral plan. This will be the culmination of years of consultation and an enormous amount of work. For the local Church, the pastoral plan will be our roadmap to the future.

We pray that the Church of Southern Africa will be guided by the pastoral plan, and that its implementation will enrich our collective apostolic mission.

The past year saw the 20th anniversary of Radio Veritas, and in October 2020 The Southern Cross will celebrate its 100th birthday.

Catholic media—print, radio, digital, as well as social communications offices—is the key in evangelisation, but the local Church has neglected to make proper use of it.

We pray that the leadership of the Church may turn its attention and adequate resources to social communications, and that bishops, clergy and laity launch new efforts to promote the Catholic media.

We pray especially that the local Church will continue to be served by the national Catholic weekly newspaper well beyond its centenary in October.

We pray for our bishops, priests, religious and laity who work in the fields of the Lord.

We also pray for the papal nuncio, Archbishop Peter Wells, as he carries the immense responsibility of identifying suitable candidates as bishops for five vacant dioceses in Southern Africa to be recommended to the Holy Father.

And, as always, we pray that all the readers, associates, promoters, pilgrims, contributors, friends and supporters of The Southern Cross have a peaceful, grace-filled 2020.

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.

Thoughts on SA’s school sexuality curriculum H AVING been involved in sex education for the past 25 years in both Catholic and secular schools, I would like to comment on the latest developments.

Firstly, while the curriculum lacks a lot, in and of itself it is no worse than any other secular curriculum I’ve seen. There are no explicit images in the student workbooks, however, the educator’s manual leaves suggestions of such, at the teacher’s discretion, to illustrate some of the topics.

Your November 27 report quotes “education experts” urging caution in responding to the curriculum. In my experience, education experts are, with all respect, not always in tune with sexuality education “experts”. Being an educator does not automatically mean you are able or willing to teach sexuality.

I believe this area of “expertise” is a calling more than a training.

Our sexuality is the deepest, most integral part of us as human beings.

Most of our behaviour comes from who we are as male or female, so it impacts most of our thoughts, choices, actions and decisions.

As a counsellor, I have discovered that many of us are broken or hurt in some area of our sexuality, and if this has not been worked through, talking about certain aspects can be traumatic and detri-

Beware Catholics behaving badly

A

LL adult Catholics, ordained and lay, should know that the Church has received much negative publicity recently, and that a concerted effort is needed by all to portray a positive image of the Church by showing respect, being compassionate and humble, setting a good example, and so on.

I sometimes wonder whether all priests have used the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and the Pastoral Introduction to the Order of the Mass.

I attended a Requiem Mass about 150km from Pinetown in KwaZuluNatal and noticed that: 1. The lector used a stand when she proclaimed the first and second readings. I am told that only the priest may use the ambo.

2. The chalice containing the Precious Blood was placed on the altar

mental to both the person teaching it and the learner being taught.

I question how effective the “training for educators” for this curriculum will be. The scripted plans to empower teachers to discuss topics they might otherwise be uncomfortable with are not all that is required to enable them to talk about issues from which they have suffered pain, hurt and trauma.

I question how curriculum areas that are clearly and decisively not Catholic teaching will be handled by teachers in Catholic schools.

Examples of such disparity are the sections on “sexual partners” (plural and no talk on marriage), contraception (yet nothing about the widely documented negative impact of hormonal and chemical methods), masturbation, media and other influences, yet nothing about pornography, in the Grade 8-12 levels of the curriculum.

Abortion and its negative impact on the person is not mentioned anywhere. The impact of digital pornography on the brain (the subject of neuroscience for the past few years, with alarming findings) is nowhere in the curriculum.

Another worrying aspect is how the programme talks about human sexuality as “part of our biology”.

While seemingly harmless, this idea of our sexuality being “tacked 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

while the priest distributed the Body of Christ. We were invited to consume the blood from the chalice on the altar. This is unheard of!

No one did so, and the priest and a lay person who came forward to assist later, struggled to consume all the precious blood.

3. The chorus “Jesus remember me, when ...” is not a Mystery of Faith.

At another parish, during Mass, the Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, assisting the priest, was told, in front of his wife, children and the congregation, by the priest, to return to his pew and call someone else. Soon after, the priest

on” is wildly at odds with our understanding of the human person.

Our sexuality, our body as male and female, is an integral part of us.

Think about it, human being means body and spirit! Without this lens, much of the understanding and acceptance of who we are, who God is, and what Jesus did for us, is at risk of being rendered incoherent.

Catholic teaching has a rich anthropology that is not tapped into, and without which sex education is mere biology.

I believe this curriculum does not give all the information and thus withholds the truth and authenticity on the moral, emotional, physical and spiritual consequences of teen sexual activity, particularly its premise that “it is natural to have sexual relationships” (Lesson 10.6 Grade 10), with no explanation on the when, how and what to do about this natural inclination.

In conclusion, a footnote to parents: Pope John Paul II cites in his apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio: “Sex education is a basic right and duty of parents which must always be carried out under their attentive guidance, whether at home or in educational centres chosen and controlled by them.”

Marie-Anne Te Brake, Foundation for the Person & Family

told the same man’s son at Mass that he could no longer be a lector as he does not belong to a Small Christian Community. There are no such communities in that parish.

As can be expected, this family left the parish.

Punctuality is important too.

When priests concelebrate, no one is to enter into a concelebration or be admitted as a concelebrant once Mass has begun.

We laity must also be punctual. I have seen a Catholic lay person walk into church just in time to join the procession to receive Communion!

We need to remember dress at Mass (I saw an adult man dressed in a T-shirt, short pants and slip-slops), cellphone use, and talking too.

In conclusion, we have to pray for our Church, our leaders, and ourselves. We have to respect the roles of the clergy and the laity.

Leo van der Sandt, Pinetown

GOD BLESS AFRICA

Guard our people, guide our leaders and give us peace.

Luke 11:1-13

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PERSPECTIVES

The season of great expectations Nthabiseng I Maphisa T’S that time of the year again. There has been overeating and overshopping.

The malls were filled with children and teenagers.

There was the clamour of trolleys as they crashed together and the swoosh of credit cards as they were being swiped.

It seems that many people work hard and shop hard in anticipation of Christmas Day. Families expect the perfect roast lamb, the perfect gammon and the perfect pudding.

It’s all a bit much really. Am I the only one who’s feeling overwhelmed?

There are so many expectations at this time of the year. Young children expect their parents to buy them the perfect toy.

Husbands and wives will expect the most thoughtful gifts from each other.

In my own household, there are many expectations over the Christmas celebrations. I’m expected to clean up after every meal while my uncles sit and drink beer.

I’m expected to answer questions as to why I am currently single and what I plan to do about it.

Members of my extended family will also ask me about my current job, how long it’s going to last and what I plan on doing next. “When are you getting a master’s degree?’ they will ask me. “Do it before you get older”, as though there were an expiration date on my intellect.

And I am expected to not take offence at anyone who comments on my supposed weight gain.

Since when did Christmas become an open door for interrogation and inquisition?

I must remember to prepare a five-year plan for my life and present it by means of flowcharts and spreadsheets for the next Christmas. That way I can avoid the many questions, and in some cases the apparent disappointments that come

from the answers I give.

I am always torn between telling people what they want to hear and what I actually think, plan or dream—very often those two things are not the same.

And thus Christmas has, over the years, become a time of awkward conversations with family members whom I have not seen for long.

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eing too open about my struggles throughout the year would have them see me as weak and lacking in confidence.

Being optimistic about things would have

Among the bustle of Christmas, it’s easy to lose sight of that little baby born in Bethlehem.

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them see me as naïve and inexperienced.

So I deliberately fade into the background and become distant among the festivities.

Through it all I am completely distracted and lose focus on the person whose birth gave rise to all these celebrations. Among the family squabbles and awkwardness, I forget that Christmas is about Christ.

And so one wonders how, amid the mass consumerism and family pressures that many of us experience, we survive Christmas and all the great expectations?

We do so by rediscovering its meaning for ourselves.

In an ideal world I would search the province for a spectacular Advent wreath.

I would buy four candles and place them in the middle of the wreath. I would light each one at each Sunday of Advent and I would pray. I would offer prayers for myself, for my family, for my friends, for my colleagues, for the world.

I am yet to find a sparkling Advent wreath, but I will not let that stop me from praying. God has a way of placing his presence among us. If we draw ourselves away from the world and all its expectations, even briefly, we may just hear the cry of that little baby born in Bethlehem.

He longs for us to gaze upon him and to remember the world to which we are called.

We eat, drink and watch the streets light up at night. But look up to the Saviour’s holy light.

Treasure the gift of the beloved Son Toni Rowland D ECEMBER is almost over and we have gone from preparation mode to the peace of Christmas.

Maybe our preparation wasn’t so directly for the preparation of the arrival of baby Jesus as for shopping for food and presents, earning what we can by working till the last day, and partying in between.

But we were in preparation mode also on a spiritual level. Lately I read up on the stories of the ancestors of Jesus and their families from the Bible up to Christmas Day, followed by reading about our ancestors in faith till the end of December.

It is sad that many activities in the Church and society seem to end with the feast of the Nativity, rather than continuing until the end of the Christmas season. Some see this as ending with the Epiphany, others with the baptism of Jesus, and others still only after 40 days with the Presentation of Jesus on February 2.

Pope Francis surprised me, and maybe many others, this month with his Advent letter Admirabile Signum, issued from Greccio, the site where St Francis in 1223 created the first Nativity scene—a very original real-life Christmas setting with, to crown it all, a real life “baby Jesus”.

It struck me how Pope Francis goes straight for the bullseye: the arrival of the baby.

An elderly friend recently wallowed in the joy of becoming a grandmother for the second time. A business colleague has travelled overseas, excited by the arrival of a first grandchild.

Don’t babies have a very special way of warming the heart, something that should be celebrated with great joy, irre-

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In his latest document, Pope Francis reflected on the Nativity scene. (Photo: Andreas Böhme) spective of the circumstances?

This month we commemorated the 16 Days of Activism Against Abuse of Women and Children. Of course that is a positive thing, but at the same time, some women, often young girls, terminate rather than celebrate their pregnancies. Often that is out of desperation—but their babies will never see the light of day.

One pro-life activist reminded me long ago that those babies are blessed, in that they can go straight into God’s eternal light. Could that be a consoling thought for the loss of a baby in a family?

P

ope Francis does not make light of the difficult circumstances that surrounded the birth of Jesus.

“The presence of the poor and the lowly in the Nativity scene remind us that God became man for the sake of those who feel most in need of his love and who ask him to draw near to them.

Jesus…was born in poverty and led a simple life in order to teach us to recognise

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what is essential and to act accordingly,” the pope wrote in Admirabile Signum.

“The Nativity scene clearly teaches that we cannot let ourselves be fooled by wealth and fleeting promises of happiness. Herod’s palace in the background is closed and deaf to the tidings of joy.

“By being born in a manger, God himself launches the only true revolution that can give hope and dignity to the disinherited and the outcast: the revolution of love, the revolution of tenderness, the path to a more human and fraternal world in which no one is excluded or marginalised.”

Pope Francis’ conclusion is one of true joy and gratitude: “The Christmas crèche is part of the precious yet demanding process of passing on the faith.

“In childhood and at every stage of our lives, it teaches us to contemplate Jesus, to experience God’s love for us, to feel and believe that God is with us and that we are with him, his children, brothers and sisters all, thanks to that Child who is the Son of God and the Son of the Virgin Mary.

“And to realise that in that knowledge we find true happiness,” the pope wrote.

How can we make this Christmas season, but also every day of the year, into a celebration of that life, that gift of love, of a Father and a most beloved Son? How can we take that message into our homes and the world which is our home too?

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The Southern Cross, December 25 to December 31, 2019

7

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

Living in the ‘age of anger’ General Intention: We pray that Christians, followers of other religions, and all people of goodwill may promote peace and justice in the world.

O we live in an “age of anger” in which peace and justice seem ever more difficult to attain? Looking around the world as the post-World War II geopolitical arrangements unravel, it certainly seems so.

Add the magnifying effect of the media, and it is hard not to agree that we live in an angry, raging world.

That we do live in such an age is powerfully argued by the Indian writer and political analyst Pankaj Mishra in his 2017 book by the same name: The Age of Anger. The subtitle is intriguing: “A History of the Present”.

Mishra has an interesting and unsettling take on how we got to this angry modern world with its apparently random mass shooting, terrorist bombs, seemingly endless wars and sudden uprisings.

The keyword in his work is the French term ressentiment. It’s hard to put into English. “Resentment” is far too bland a translation. Ressentiment is the deep envy, rage and hostility of frustrated persons and peoples who feel they have lost out to and been victimised by others.

It is the sentiment of people who have been reduced to serfdom and it can easily explode into revolutionary violence.

Mishra locates the source of this global ressentiment in a rather unlikely place: the European Enlightenment with its big ideas which still hold sway today—the importance of scientific thought, universal human rights, economic and social progress built on technological progress rooted in the science.

These are not bad ideas in themselves, he admits, but they did have unintended consequences. They presented the world with a materialistic and consumerist ideal of human fulfilment to which much of humanity today aspires but with very little hope of being able to attain.

The developed world has made it into this materialistic “heaven” often exploiting colonial empires, but the billions of citizens of these ex-colonies are unlikely ever to find admittance into this consumerist paradise, and deep down they know it.

The Enlightenment unintentionally set the world up to fail.

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A

t the same time, traditional cultures have been eroded by Western-led globalisation.

Hence vast populations in what we used to call the “Third World” feel they have been doubly robbed, and this is the source of their deep ressentiment.

This deadly sentiment is not only felt in developing countries. In the more unequal developed nations, sudden outbursts of violence by radicalised loners against scapegoats, such as new immigrants, also manifest it.

We often tend, rather simplistically, to see much of the violence in today’s world as being fuelled by ethnic and religious divisions. Obviously they do play a role. But we need to go beneath the surface of the media soundbites to see what is really going on.

This age of anger is the global backdrop of the intention Pope Francis puts before us.

He rightly sees the importance of the world’s great religions working in concert as part of the solution. If these faiths are seen to cooperate, then this gives lie to those who would blame religious belief as an inevitable source of conflict.

If people of faith work and pray together for the peace and harmony which ordinary people desire, then the real sources of the divisions and angry resentments of the world—such as obscene economic inequality, a consumerist ideology and ecological devastation—will become clearer.

Pope John Paul II had a vision of the great Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam, along with all other religions— being a faith-filled force for good in the world, especially for peace.

To this end he started the Assisi inter-religious meetings in 1986 and they were repeated in 1993, 2001 and 2011.

These gatherings gave rise to the World Day of Prayer for Peace, every year on January 1.

This month’s intention is an invitation to participate in this prayerful, worldwide supplication for a less angry and more tranquil and united world.

8

The Southern Cross, December 25 to December 31, 2019

COMMUNITY Eucharistic Heart of Jesus parish in Cambridge, East London, led by Fr Varghese kannanaickal CMI, continued its annual tradition of presenting the Nativity play followed by the Christmas dinner, which ends the catechism year for the children.

(Photo: Graham Reynolds)

Second-year RCIA catechumens, candidates and sponsors from St John Bosco parish in Robertsham, Johannesburg, hosted local refugees affected by xenophobic attacks, at a Christmas lunch where each received a gift hamper.

Outreach is part of the RCIA programme.

(Photo: Mark kisogloo)

Confirmation candidates of Immaculate Conception parish in Pinetown, Durban archdiocese, packed 196 party packs for three Christmas parties hosted by the St Vincent de Paul Society. (Submitted by Leo van der Sandt)

Members of the Catholic Women’s League of St Francis of Assisi parish in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, prepared a Christmas lunch for senior citizens.

(Submitted by Elaine Prosper) Children at Blessed Edmund Nursery School near Harding in kwaZulu-Natal, run by the Sisters of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Mary Immaculate, presented a Nativity concert. (Submitted

by Sr Helena koĺcz LSMI)

The Catholic Women’s League of Our Lady of Fatima parish in Durban North organised a Nativity scene in the local public library over the Christmas season.

(Submitted by Anna Accolla)

Send your photos to

pics@scross.co.za Members of the Salesian youth Movement in Johannesburg attended an Advent retreat at the provincial house in Booysens.

Sr Ana Mercedes FMA led the young people through reflections on the importance of preparing themselves for the Birth of Christ, and also focused on symbols of Advent such as the Advent wreath and the Jesse Tree.

(Submitted by Br Clarence Watts SDB)

Contact Vocation Coordinator on 072 989 2286 nardvocprom1855@gmail.com Facebook: Franciscan Nardini Sisters of the Holy Family

www.facebook.com /thescross

Three Carmelite parishes held an inter-parish Christmas carol-singing competition in Benoni, Johannesburg archdiocese. The participating parishes were St Joseph’s in Actonville, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Benoni, and Our Lady of Loreto in kempton Park. Winners St Joseph’s are seen with their trophies. (Submitted by Sanet karam)

REFLECTION

The Southern Cross, December 25 to December 31, 2019

9

Mary: Meeting place of human and divine On January 1, the Church observes the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. FR RALPH DE HAHN reflects on Mary, the Queen of All Creation.

T

HE Catholic Church universally throws herself into the arms of Mary, for she is the mother of the Christ.

And as such, she is the mother of his mystical body which we recognise as the visible Church on earth.

The accolades poured upon her in liturgy and celebrations throughout the year in no way satisfy adequately the honour bestowed upon her by the heavenly Father, for Mary was immaculately conceived to be the mother of his incarnate son.

Her motherhood finds its sublimity in virginity, and virginity in motherhood. St Augustine says: “The conception found her a virgin; the birth left her a virgin.”

He added that Christ died to pay for the high prerogatives of his mother.

Speaking of her virginity, he sees the sun’s rays enter and pass through a crystal without in any way breaking or injuring it.

The term “Mother of God” is formally correct because Jesus did not possess a human personality. He was a divine person, and Mary is the mother of the Word made flesh.

Her divine maternity is the reason for her existence.

Nothing in this mystery is accidental! In no way is Mary a member of the Blessed Trinity; she remains a human mother, and as Archangel Gabriel proclaimed, Mary is “full of grace”—not simply “highly favoured”, as were so many other biblical figures, but “full of grace”.

She is, as the poet William Wordsworth wrote in 1822, “our tainted nature’s solitary boast”— the new Eve who brought life, not death, to the human race.

Elizabeth greeted her with the words: “Blessed art thou amongst all women.”

According to St Anselm in the 11th century: “Mary’s graces surpass our imaginations, for she began where all the angels and saints left off.”

St Sophronius, the early 7th-century patriarch of Jerusalem, names her “the greatest ornament of our human nature, far beyond the brilliance of angels and archangels”.

God’s masterpiece in flesh We realise, of course, that when we admire the great works of artists and sculptors, we sing the praises of the artist, the creator of that masterpiece; and so in honouring Mary, God’s masterpiece in human flesh, we sing God’s praises as did Mary herself in the Magnificat.

Mary always longed to be a child of God—and then found that God was to be her child. She is the unique meeting place of the human and the divine!

God is the Father of all created things, and Mary is the mother of all that is re-created, said John Damascene in the early 8th century.

She was the bridge over which Jesus walked into our world.

“Wisdom has built itself a house,” says the book of Proverbs (9:1) and what son, if he could fashion his own mother, would not adorn her with rich gifts and exquisite beauty.

We did not make her different; we found her different. She is not the sun with all its brilliant light; she is like the moon and only reflects His light. The cup, although pure and empty, cannot hold the ocean.

Mary had courage and her un-

shakeable faith.

In the extraordinary history of ancient Israel, we cannot fail to recognise the outstanding courage and bravery of so many women.

We recall only a few, like Sarah, Ruth and Naomi, Rahab of Jericho, Esther the queen, Deborah the judge and prophetess, Jael the brave Kenite, and Judith who slayed the cruel Holofernes.

And in the silent background to all this drama, we have a young virgin mother whose flesh and blood she offered to the Son of God, giving birth to the Lord in a stable.

In the temple at Jesus’ presentation, Simeon prophesied that a “sword will pierce your own soul”, for “this Child is appointed to cause the rise and fall of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against” (Lk 2:34-35). And so it came to be.

Mary’s many piercings Even before that, Mary’s soul suffered many piercings: • the massacre of the little innocents in Bethlehem; • the long, perilous trek to far-off Egypt, then from Egypt back to Nazareth; • those sleepless nights when her son could not be found in Jerusalem, to be found only on the third day; • the quiet death of Joseph who was their saintly protector; the condemnation of her son by the “Church” of that day; • the hurt she experienced when he was rejected and humiliated.

And then that deeply sorrowful meeting him on the Via Dolorosa carrying a criminal’s cross.

• Finally, at the foot of the cross of her crucified son, her flesh and blood, she felt that unimaginable pain of the agonising death in her very self for, as St Lawrence Justinian put it, “never was there such love, never was there such sorrow”.

Mary witnessed his side being pierced with a lance, the flow of blood and water, when he was already dead; and all the Father willed had now been “accomplished”.

That superbly beautiful masterpiece of Michelangelo, the Pietà, expresses such beauty and emotion with the dead body nestled in her arms.

A huge litany of saints have commented on her courage and bravery, adding that the mystery of the cross and suffering does not end with Golgotha.

Many great saints and martyrs over the centuries have named Mary the “Queen of Martyrs”. She who stood so bravely beneath the cross now stands gloriously above the sun!

We have this luminous praise exalting the bravery of Judith, now directed to Our Blessed Lady: “You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the joy and pride of Israel, you are the highest honour of our people” (Jud 14:10).

Tributes from modern saints We also have the testimony of two modern saints from their sickbeds: Bernadette of Lourdes explained: “Having seen her once, one would wish to die in order to see her again.”

And Thérèse of Lisieux sighed: “Our Lady became so beautiful… but I have no words to describe her heavenly loveliness.”

Mary has always been a pillar of strength to the Church, her many apparitions expressing her care for God’s children.

She was the first to notice the wine shortage at the Cana wedding, and also displayed her powerful bond with her son: “Do whatever he tells you.”

Millions of believers seek her intercession, knowing that God will never refuse his earthly mother.

She is indeed the Refuge of Sin-

ners, the Spiritual Sea of Graces. If Mary could give us her son in her affliction, what will she not give us in her glory?

St Albert the Great (1205-80) believed that “immediately next to being God is being the mother of God”.

Even the Qu’ran gives great praise to the immaculate mother of the prophet Jesus. A whole chapter in it is devoted to her.

Many Christians may see Mary simply as a mother, but she is truly our mother. St Bernard insisted that one cannot truly love Christ while rejecting his mother!

The argument persists among major Christian bodies that Mary was conceived in sin like all of us but was cleansed only with the archangel’s message.

St Bernard and other saints would argue that Eve was created without sin, and sinned only later through disobedience.

If, as is argued, Mary was conceived in sin and only later made sinless, then Eve becomes the greater of the two women—and that is inconceivable since we know that Mary, not Eve, gave God’s son flesh and blood to redeem the world from sin.

No, the Church’s universal devotion to Mary is founded on a Rock foundation and it has already produced incredible fruits. n Fr Ralph de Hahn is a priest of the archdiocese of Cape Town.

“The Madonna of the Roses” by French painter William Adolphe Bouguereau from 1903. On New year’s Day, the Church marks the feast of Mary, Mother of God, on which Fr Ralph de Hahn reflects in his article.

Souther n Cros s Pilgrimage

MEDJUGORJE • ROME ASSISI • LORETO

18-27 May 2020 With Archbishop Stephen Brislin

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

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The Southern Cross, December 25 to December 31, 2019

CATHOLIC LIFE

Ten New Year’s resolutions to keep fit spiritually in 2020 As the new year comes into view, many people are making their New Year’s resolutions. ERIN CARELSE suggests ten resolutions to strength our faith lives.

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VERY January most of us make our annual New Year’s resolutions believing that this will be the year.

Losing weight, exercising more regularly, getting a better job are just some of the resolutions that are at the top of most of our lists, but the practice of making a New Year’s resolution can also be applied to our spiritual life.

But how many of us make resolutions to become better Catholics and resolve to focus more on God? Here are a few spiritual resolutions to help you kickstart 2020.

1. Pick a new saint Start a new tradition where each year, you choose a different saint to journey with you for the next 12 months.

Choose one whom you would like to emulate in the new year and let them be your guide in difficult circumstances.

Your saint—or saints—will help you to grow in your relationship with God. It’s also an opportunity for you to learn about these people who led lives of heroic virtue rooted in faith, hope and charity.

2. Attend a daily Mass In our busy schedules, it may not always be possible to attend a daily Mass. But for 2020, try and think of ways in which you can arrange your schedule and activities to include just one extra Mass a week; or at least a month.

Most parishes offer daily Mass during the week in the morning, during lunch or in the evening.

Time shouldn’t give you too much of an excuse. Weekday Masses usually don’t last long, as there is often no singing and you have small groups attending.

If your schedule doesn’t allow for change, find out when your local church keeps its doors open, and try

Online payment for easy renewal

to add time for Adoration outside Mass, even if just for 15 minutes.

3. Go to confession Start the year off right! If it’s been a while since you’ve gone to confession, or if you struggle with going to confession regularly, consider making it a New Year’s resolution.

It’s easy for many of us to skip going to confession for weeks, months, or even years. A first we might have procrastinated, and then maybe became embarrassed about how long it has been since our last confession.

If this is you, this year, make a concerted effort to go to and make it a family affair.

Most parishes offer confession at least once a week, but speak to your priest if you can’t attend the specific time, and schedule an appointment.

4. Daily or weekly rosary Rosaries are not just decorations to hang in your car or on your walls. The rosary is a powerful tool of prayer and the mysteries represent the significant events in the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Maybe 2020 is the year to take the rosary more seriously. The rhythm of the repetitious prayers can have a profound spiritual effect.

Begin with a decade each day, and move your way up—or pray it once a week.

All a decade takes to pray is one Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and one Glory Be. It’s a great way to take a pause in your day, to regroup with the Lord and be nourished.

5. Make a pilgrimage Make time for your spiritual wellbeing by making a pilgrimage.

It is a beautiful opportunity for us Catholics to deepen our faith life and grow closer to Christ. There is so much to see and learn from visits to holy shrines.

With that being said, this doesn’t mean you have to go to Rome. Look up local shrines—be it Ngome or Schoenstatt or just your cathedral— because a successful pilgrimage isn’t about the distance you’ve travelled but about your commitment to the journey.

If you can afford it, go on a re-

A new year, and new resolutions. Erin Carelse suggests that we start the new year—and new decade—by including ways to strengthen our faith life in our New year’s resolutions. treat. There are many great retreat facilities throughout South Africa.

6. Get involved in the parish Whether you belong to a small or a huge parish, participation by members is vital for growth and sustainability.

This year, consider becoming a choir member, usher, reader or extraordinary minister of the Eucharist.

Look at your God-given attributes, and think about how you can use them best. Check your bulletin, or call your parish office and see where the need is.

7. Invite a priest for dinner For some, this may be a daunting idea, but inviting your priest for dinner is a way to show your appreciation for all that he does for you and your community.

Many priests leave behind the families who raised them and commit themselves to serving Christ.

When they feel supported and appreciated, we encourage their vocations.

It’s also an opportunity for you and your family to engage and learn from your priest.

Offering a priest a home-cooked meal can be a real treat and blessing for him, especially if he lacks the time, energy or talent to cook for

himself.

Alternatively, offer to commit yourself to cooking a few meals a month for your priest and dropping them off. It doesn’t have to be a fancy meal.

8. Practise forgiveness We tend to forget that forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling. So choose to resolve to forgive somebody who you feel has left you resentful and angry—even if they don’t really deserve it.

Healing begins with forgiveness and through forgiveness. You may free the one who is forgiven, but more importantly, you also liberate yourself.

Also ask for forgiveness from somebody who feels resentful and angry towards you, whether you think they are right or not.

Forgiveness heals wounds, and it may heal estranged relationships, especially within families.

9. Support Catholic media The aim of any Catholic media should be to inform, to form and to inspire, and we are blessed to have an array to choose from.

We have The Southern Cross as our national Catholic weekly, and in some areas diocesan newspapers.

We have magazines like World-

Catholic news that COUNTS

Print or Digital

SUBSCRIBE Digital: R420 • Print R550

Call Michelle 021 465 5007 or subscriptions@scross.co.za • www.scross.co.za/subscribe

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wide and Trefoil.

Radio Veritas is our radio station, which we can access even if we’re not in Gauteng on DStv or streamed on the Internet.

Spotlight.Africa is a great digital resource, and the Jesuit Institute produces great podcasts to inspire us.

These are all vital forms of Catholic media that weave together points of faith, politics and heartwarming stories of hope. Social communications provide us with a Catholic dimension that is usually missing in other media.

And Catholic media can help in evangelisation and formation.

They are the voice that provides insight and can mobilise Catholics, and through their news, analysis, columns and features you get to see the world through Catholic eyes.

Isn’t that a wonderful way to increase your understanding of your faith?

So make it a point this year to subscribe to The Southern Cross, tune in to Radio Veritas, access Spotlight.Africa, and so on.

And consider donating to The Southern Cross and Radio Veritas where you can, to help keeping these alive.

10. Give thanks to God The most important aspect of spiritual life, in one word, is gratitude, and the first step is the ability to recognise our blessings.

Make it a habit to thank God for your blessings, however small, at the end of each day.

Learning to be grateful will help you face obstacles and makes you conscious of the good in your life.

In the face of despair, gratitude has the power to bring hope.

One small step towards improving your spiritual life is all you need to become a better Catholic in the new year, and by doing so we are not only improving our relationship with God but also that with others.

To become better people and do better things in life must start with God. So let’s make an effort to get to know him, love him, pray to him, follow him, but most of all to let him be the centre of your life in 2020.

RADIO VERITAS PILGRIMAGE

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The Southern Cross, December 25 to December 31, 2019

YOUR CLASSIFIEDS

Slain priest remembered

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

By DALUXOLO MOLOANTOA

A

COMMEMORATION Mass in memory of the late Stigmatine Father Michele D’Annucci was held in at Bethesda Special School in Garankuwa township, north of Pretoria.

Fr D’Annucci was killed in a botched hijacking in Mabopane in 2001, and officially declared a martyr by the Church in 2002.

The priest had played a major role in the establishment of Bethesda Special School, which caters to children with disabilities.

It is one of a number of schools he helped to build in the area, some literally with his own bare hands, as he was also a trained builder.

Victoria Sofala, who acted as programme director for the service, recalled Fr D’Annucci’s relentless energy and desire to be always of purpose to others in the Catholic community and beyond.

Mrs Sofala gave an account of the day Fr D’Annucci died, from the time he was hijacked up to his last breath in her arms at George Mukhari Hospital, near Garankuwa.

Rachel More, former national deputy-director of the National Library of SA, spoke of her collaboration with him on various community-based projects and also within the Catholic Women’s League., and about her part in the laying of Fr D’Annucci to rest in a tomb constructed inside the Santa Maria da Nives church, formerly a cathedral, in

IN MEMORIAM

SERVANTS OF GOD: Danny (28/12/2012) and Domitilla (18/1/2011) Hyams. In loving memory of our beloved founders of Little Eden Society. God grant them his eternal rest as we continue to spread their legacy of respect, sanctity of life, and love and care. We ask for prayers for the cause of their beatification as a couple. Hyams family, residents, CEO and staff of Little Eden Society.

PERSONAL

Fr Michale Motlhamme CSS and Deacon David Seageng with congregants after a remembrance Mass for Fr Michele D’Annucci (inset), who was murdered 18 years ago. his hometown of Atella, Italy.

At the commemoration Mass, 18 candles were lit, marking the years since Fr D’Annucci’s death, followed by a procession, led by those holding the candles, to the Fr Michele Memorial Site at the entrance to Bethesda school.

There parish priest Fr Michale Motlhamme CSS and Deacon David Seageng led the congregation in laying wreaths at the me-

morial stone, followed by a reading of messages by representatives of various sodalities and individuals.

Fr Motlhamme, like Fr D’Annucci a Stigmatine, urged those in attendance to prioritise friendliness towards one another.

He recalled Nelson Mandela describing Fr D’Annucci as “a great friend of South Africa and its people”.

FROM OUR VAULTS December 26, 1999

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

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E

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

Ringing in the Jubilee Year 2000 In a special four-page supplement, The Southern Cross previews the Holy Year 2000, including a guide to the monthly themes.

Southern Cross interviews Fr Küng In an exclusive interview in the offices of The Southern Cross, controversial German theologian Fr Hans Küng tells Michael Shackleton and Günther Simmermacher that the Catholic Church is in need of a major overhaul, but this won’t happen until a future pontificate.

Gestures of solidarity After reading about theft at the TLC Ministries home for abandoned babies, Southern Cross readers donated a total of R10 000 for the construction of an electric fence around the Johannesburg premises.

Holy Year a chance for interior cleansing In his editorial, Michael Shackleton writes that the Jubilee Year “is an exceptional season for us to cleanse our hearts and souls and to open them again to grace, love and reconciliation”.

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PARISH NOTICES

NEW PARISH NOTICES MOST WELCOME: If any parish notices listed are no longer valid, call us on 021 465-5007 or e-mail us at m.leveson@scross.co.za so that we can remove them. Also, we’d welcome new notices from parishes across Southern Africa to run free in the classifieds.

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

St Anthony’s rosary group.

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

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

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

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 895. ACROSS: 4 Forgive, 8 Lariat, 9 Stand it, 10 Undone, 11 Obeyed, 12 Handmaid, 18 Next door, 20 Bureau, 21 Ararat, 22 Finally, 23 Judges, 24 Addenda. DOWN: 1 Ploughs, 2 Trident, 3 Magnum 5 Orthodox, 6 Ganges, 7 Veiled, 13 Annulled, 14 Courage, 15 Protest, 16 Buried, 17 Decade, 19 Tarsus.

Liturgical Calendar Year A – Weekdays Cycle Year 2 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 Monday December 30 1 John 2:12-17, Psalm 96:7-10, Luke 2:36-40 Tuesday December 31, St Sylvester 1 John 2:18-21, Psalm 96:1-2, 11-13, John 1:1-18 Wednesday January 1, Mary Mother of God Numbers 6:22-27, Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8, Galatians 4:4-7, Luke 2:16-21 Thursday January 2, Ss Basil the

S outher n C ross

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Great and Gregory Nazianzen 1 John 2:22-28, Psalm 98:1-4, John 1:19-28 Friday January 3, Most Holy Name of Jesus 1 John 2:29-3, 6, Psalm 98:1, 3-6, John 1:29-34 or memorial Philippians 2:1-11, Psalm 8:4-9, Luke 2:21-24 Saturday January 4 1 John 3:7-10, Psalm 98:1, 7-9, John 1:35-42 Sunday January 5, Epiphany of the Lord Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-13, Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6, Matthew 2:1-12

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Editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za), Business Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za), Advisory Editor: Michael Shackleton, Local News: Erin Carelse (e.carelse@scross.co.za) Editorial: Claire Allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), Mary Leveson (m.leveson@scross.co.za), Advertising: yolanda Timm (advertising@scross.co.za), Subscriptions: Michelle Perry (subscriptions@scross.co.za), Accounts: Desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za), Directors: R Shields (Chair), Bishop S Sipuka, S Duval, E Jackson, B Jordan, Sr H Makoro CPS, C Mathieson*, G Stubbs

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the

Solemnity of the Epiphany: Sunday January 5 Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:2, 7-8, 1013, Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6, Matthew 2:1-12

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EXT Sunday we enter the second part of the Christmas season, with celebrating the Epiphany. This great feast has the uncomfortable gift of turning everything upside down, but it is a beautiful vision, from which we should gain immense strength.

The first reading invites us to “rise and shine, for your light has come, and the Lord’s glory is shining upon you”. This is disconcertingly dazzling, but it is all good news: “For look! Darkness is covering the land, and thick cloud the peoples—but on you the Lord is shining, and upon you his glory has appeared.”

And it is not just for us, but for everyone: “The nations shall walk in your light, and kings in your shining radiance.”

We are then invited to “lift up your eyes round about—your sons are coming to you from afar, and your daughters on the bosom of their nurses”.

Then there is a breathtaking picture of the world coming to God’s light: “They shall come from Sheba, with gold and frankincense, and utter the praises of the Lord.”

In the psalm for next Sunday, the vision is the slightly uncomfortable one of the newly crowned king being gently warned that “he will judge your people in justice, and your poor with right judgement”.

He too is offered a vision: “In his days, jus-

S outher n C ross

Everything’s upside-down tice shall flourish, and peace until the moon is no more.”

Happily, the poet is praying for his kingdom to be extensive: “May he rule from sea to sea, from the Nile to the ends of the earth”, and prays that “all kings bow down before him, all nations serve him”.

But there is a condition; and it is the uncomfortable one that “he rescues the poor when they cry out, and the oppressed who have no one to help them”.

There is a challenge to this unknown ancient king; and a challenge also to us, in this feast that turns everything upside down.

The second reading likewise offers a disconcerting challenge. First, Paul is clear that he has been given a task (“the stewardship of the grace of God that was given me for you”).

Secondly, it is an entirely new revelation, “which was not made known to human beings before, as it was now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit”. Finally, it carries with it the remarkable discovery that “the Gentiles [the non-Jews] are co-heirs and co-members of the body and co-sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel”.

This is a new and disconcerting revelation.

This revelation is given very dramatic expression in our Gospel reading for the feast.

For it tells a story in which the heroes are

indeed Gentiles. They are described as “magi”, which might be “astrologers” or “magicians”; but it is certainly the case that they know what is going on, and have stumbled on the truth. For they turn up in Jerusalem “from the East”, and ask the somewhat undiplomatic question: “Where is the one who has been born King of the Judeans?”

The point is that there is a King of the Judeans, happily reigning; and his name is Herod; and he has a decidedly brisk way with anyone who might be a potential threat to his reign (including several of his sons).

Now the Magi state their purpose of “worshipping” this newborn king, and we know this is precisely what they should be doing.

It is true that as part of the dialogue Herod also indicates an intention to “worship the dear little child”; but we know too that he means something quite different from what the Magi understand by this term; unlike them, he has murder on his agenda.

We also observe that Herod believes that the Magi have got it right; because, in the first place, “he is disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him”, which anticipates the “earthquake” that will take place at the end of Matthew’s Gospel when Jesus dies. Not only that, but he summons his religious experts, and enquires of them: “Where is the Messiah to be born”?

How justice trumps charity W

E’RE all familiar, I suspect, with the difference between justice and charity. Charity is giving away some of your time, energy, resources, and person to help others in need. And that’s an admirable virtue, the sign of a good heart.

Justice, on the other hand, is less about directly giving something away than it is about looking to change the conditions and systems that put others in need.

No doubt, we’re all familiar with the little parable used to illustrate this difference. In brief, it goes like this: A town situated on the edge of a river finds itself confronted every day by a number of bodies floating downstream in the river. The townspeople tend to the bodies, minister to those who are alive, and respectfully bury the dead.

They do this for years, with good hearts; but, through all those years, none of them ever journey up the river to look at why there are wounded and dead bodies floating in the river each day.

The townspeople are good-hearted and charitable, but that in itself isn’t changing the situation that’s bringing them wounded and dead bodies daily.

Also, the charitable people aren’t even remotely aware that their manner of life, seemingly completely unconnected to the wounded and dead bodies they’re daily attending to, might in fact be contributing to the cause of those lost lives and dreams.

Good-hearted as they are, they may be complicit in something that’s harming others, even while it’s affording them the resources and wherewithal to be charitable.

The lesson here is not that we shouldn’t be charitable and goodhearted. One-to-one charity, as the parable of the Good Samaritan makes clear, is what’s demanded of us, both as humans and as Christians.

The lesson is that being good-hearted alone is not enough. It’s a start, a good one—but more is asked of us.

I suspect most of us already know this, but perhaps we’re less conscious of something less obvious, namely, that our very generosity itself might be contributing to a blindness that lets us support (and vote for) the exact political, economic and cultural systems which are to blame for the wounded and dead bodies we’re attending to in our charity.

T

hat our own good works of charity can help blind us to our complicity in injustice is something highlighted in a recent book by Anand Giridharada, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World.

In an unsettling assertion, Giridharada submits that “generosity can be, and often is, a substitute for and a means of avoiding the necessity of a more just and equitable system and fairer distribution of power”.

Charity, wonderful as it is, is not yet justice; a good heart, wonderful as it is, is not yet good policy that serves the less-privileged; and philanthropy, wonderful as it is, can have us confuse the charity we’re doing with the justice that’s asked of us.

For this reason among others, Giridharada submits that public problems should not be privatised and relegated to the domain of private charity, as is

Conrad

Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

They consult their computers and come up with an answer (“Bethlehem”) and a prooftext, from the prophet Micah.

So Herod directs the Magi on to Bethlehem, checks with them when they had spotted the star (for he wants to make sure he can eliminate the threat), and sends them on their way.

The divine guidance continues, in the shape of the “star which they had seen in the East”, and leads them to “the child, with Mary its mother”.

Now they present gifts: gold, to acknowledge that Jesus is indeed a king, frankincense (for he is a priest); and, finally and most grimly of all, “myrrh”, for anointing a dead body. We are never to forget that the shadow of the cross hangs over the Christmas crib.

There is great discomfort here; however God is in charge, and just as we were anxiously beginning to wonder if these dim-witted Magi are going to rush back to Jerusalem to tell Herod how to find Jesus (and kill him), God intervenes: “They were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod—and it was by another route that they went back to their land.”

This is a story that turns everything upside-down.

Southern Crossword #895

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

now so often the case.

Christiana Zenner, reviewing the book in the Jesuit journal America, sums this up by saying: “Beware of the temptation to idealise a market or an individual who promises salvation without attending to the least among us and without addressing the conditions that facilitated the domination in the first place.”

Then she adds that when we see the direct violation of another person, a direct injustice, we’re taken aback, but the unfairness and the perpetrator are obvious.

We see that something is wrong and we can see who is to blame. But—and this is her real point—when we live with unjust systems that violate others, we can be blind to our own complicity because we can feel good about ourselves since our charity is helping those who have been violated.

For example: Imagine I’m a goodhearted man who feels a genuine sympathy for the homeless. As the Christmas season approaches I make a large donation of food and money to the local food bank.

Further still, on Christmas Day itself, before I sit down to eat my own dinner, I spend several hours helping to serve a Christmas meal to the homeless.

My charity here is admirable, and I cannot help but feel good about what I just did. And what I did was a good thing!

But then, when I support a politician or a policy that privileges the rich and is unfair to the poor, I can more easily rationalise that I’m doing my just part and that I have a heart for the poor, even as my vote itself helps ensure that there will always be homeless people to feed on Christmas Day. Few virtues are as important as charity. It’s the sign of a good heart. But the deserved good feeling we get when we give of ourselves in charity shouldn’t be confused with the false feeling that we’re really doing our part.

S outhern C ross Pilgrimage

ACRoSS

4 Pardon (7) 8. A trail the cowboy may use (6) 9. Endure something while not sitting (5,2) 10. How you leave what you have failed to do (6) 11. Observed a commandment (6) 12. A title Mary applied to herself (8) 18. Where love for your neighbour may begin (4,4) 20. Rub back with French water at the writing desk (6) 21. Noah’s ark’s resting place (Gn 8) (6) 22. At last! (7) 23. Biblical book found on the bench (6) 24. Dead and supplementary to the book (7)

Solutions on page 11

I

T was New Year’s Eve, and the sacristan saw the old parish priest kneeling in prayer before the altar.

Touched by the priest’s faithfulness, she made a New Year’s resolution to improve her prayer life.

After the New Year’s Mass next morning, she asked the priest what he had been praying about.

“Oh, that’s a prayer for successful ministry which I have been saying every New Year’s Eve since my ordination.”

The sacristan asked how the prayer goes. The priest obliged: “God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones that I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference. Amen!”

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