200115

The

S outher n C ross

January 15 to January 21, 2020

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

Women in the Church of Pope Francis

No 5170

www.scross.co.za

Centenary Jubilee Year

New film tells story of martyr to Nazis

Fr Radine: How to build up your faith this year

Page 5

R12 (incl VAT RSA)

Page 10

Page 7

BUMPER EDITION NEXT WEEK:

MATRIC CELEBRATION ISSUE OUT ON JANUARY 22!

Zim hungers as 7 million are short on food A

S severe drought conditions continue in Zimbabwe, close to 7 million people are facing food shortages, a Catholic aid agency has warned.

“Families have run out of options to put food on their tables,” Dorrett Byrd, Catholic Relief Services’ regional director for Southern Africa, told the Catholic News Agency.

With repeated droughts over the past five years, the effects of last March’s Cyclone Idai—which destroyed crops and infrastructure and displaced many people—and a struggling economy, many of Zimbabwe’s small farmers have found themselves unable to feed their families in a country where 70% of the people grow their own food The United Nations estimates that nearly half of the 16 million people in the country are urgently in need of food aid, and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network ranks the country as experiencing a “Phase 3 food crisis”, signifying widespread acute malnutrition.

The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference acknowledged the economic and social amenities crisis that Zimbabwe is facing in a pastoral letter issued in December.

“The nation is facing shortages of energy, water and other basic commodities,” the bishops said.

Moreover, they added, “infrastructure like roads, railways, dams and bridges is in terrible disrepair with little hope of the problems being fixed”.

The droughts have increased in frequency and intensity due to climate change, Mr Byrd said.

In addition to widespread crop failure, inflation has decimated many families’ savings.

Mr Byrd warned that the struggle to find food has led many young people to leave the country, especially to South Africa.

“Migrating parents often leave their young children behind with grandparents who struggle to provide for them.”

CRS is working with farmers in Zimbabwe to teach soil and water conservation methods. The agency is also offering drought-resistant crops to farmers and is cooperating with the government in a notification system warning farmers about threats to their harvest.

Even with these steps, however, Mr Byrd warned that more action needs to be taken in order for the people of Zimbabwe to recover.

Other countries in the region are also facing an escalating hunger crisis. The Food and Agriculture Organization reports that more than 45 million people in Southern Africa are currently faced with food insecurity.

“This area of the world needs help and it needs help now,” Mr Byrd said. “We hope the economic situation improves soon, but if climate change is not addressed, countries like Zimbabwe will continue to suffer.”

The drought and cyclone are the effects of climate change, Verity Johnson of the Catholic aid agency CAFOD, told Vatican News last August.

“Zimbabwe has definitely been hit by the effects of climate change; you can feel it, witness it all the time...temperatures are hotter, there’s been less rainfall.”

The Daughters of St Francis of Assisi at Port Shepstone celebrated the vows and jubilees of Sisters in Assisi convent in the presence of Bishops Stanley Dziuba of Umzimkulu and Pius Mlungisi Dlungwane of Mariannhill. Srs Pio Ndlovu, Clare Thabethe and Innocent Majake made their first vows and Sr Charity Jaca her final vow. Srs Christa Shezi, Mathia Cele, Calista and Asteria Nzimbovu celebrated their 60th jubilee, and Sr Euginia Mkhize her 50th. (Photo: Bishop Stanley Dziuba)

Stop the rumour mill STAFF REPORTER

R

UMOURS of The Southern Cross’ demise are greatly exaggerated. There is life in this newspaper yet.

This month, staff members of The Southern Cross and our office were confronted with rumours that we would close down in March or October.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Far from closing down, The Southern Cross will celebrate its 100th anniversary in October, as anticipated by the centenary logo on the top right corner of the front-page every week throughout our jubilee year.

“A very worried fellow parishioner approached me after Mass, saying that she had heard that The Southern Cross would close down in October—she said she couldn’t live without her weekly Southern Cross,” said the newspaper’s business manager Pamela Davids.

Ms Davids reassured the reader that there is no chance that The Southern Cross will close in October.

A few days later, a concerned reader phoned our office with a rumour that seeks to kill us off even sooner: in March.

The reader was relieved to know that the

Church Chuckles

rumour was false.

“It is of concern that there are rumours about us closing down, and we have no idea why people would think this,” said Rosanne Shields, chair of the board of The Southern Cross.

“Readers can rest assured that The Southern Cross is here to stay and can feel confident in the paper’s management and staff. I ask that people please not circulate this false information but rather talk about why fellow Catholics should buy the paper.”

Ms Shields acknowledged that The Southern Cross is facing challenges and needs greater support, “but none of these challenges mean that we are folding”.

The Southern Cross always needs the support of Catholics, she said.

“People can support us by becoming Associates of The Southern Cross, and by promoting the newspaper in the parishes, for example,” Ms Shields said.

“We also call on parish priests to promote the paper more from the pulpit. We are in this together,” she added.

“That support is essential in making sure that these rumours which are currently being spread will never come true,” she added.

The Big Book of Catholic Jokes The biggest collection of Catholic jokes yet!

ONLY R180 (plus R30 p&p Fastmail)

500 jokes ordered by themes, with 60 cartoons by Conrad!

ORDER NOW!

and receive a surprise gift!

Order from books@scross.co.za or call 021 465-5007 or buy at 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town or go to www.scross.co.za/jokes

2

The Southern Cross, January 15 to January 21, 2020

REFLECTION

The people at the end of the road Once they were members of society, today they exist in the margins of the world.

CECIL CULLEN describes his visit to a home for people with dementia.

been left here to finish their lives.

They are no longer capable of being accommodated in normal society. And yet they all were fellow members of that society: bread-winners, mothers, homemakers. One can only wonder at the cruelty of life which brings them to this situation.

But perhaps we should consider that these might be the fortunate ones, those who have the means to be cared for.

What about those who cannot come here, who are forced to be kept in domestic homes where constant care is not available, where a fallen invalid has to wait perhaps for hours for help, where the administration of medicine is not overseen?

T

HE room is long and relatively narrow, with tables and chairs down both long sides, created by the enclosing of the space between two adjacent buildings, covered with a translucent fibreglass pitched roof.

This is the second dining-roomcum-lounge for the patients in the dementia-related section of the retirement home.

It is mid-afternoon, and there are about 12 people sitting around—teatime is near. Not that most leave after either breakfast or lunch; they move from the set tables, and the chairs in which they were seated are rearranged along the walls by the staff.

The population is shifting, but presently there are 21 patients who utilise this area, of them 17 women.

Of the women, two are black, the rest white. Not that this is of any importance here; all are accepted among themselves as just people, and seemingly by the staff as well.

The most common feature here is the almost unbroken silence.

They sit with vacant expressions, for the most part, except for those who have lapsed into sleep, a very popular activity.

This silence is broken by the men, by a tall bushy-headed chap of possibly Dutch extraction, who makes unintelligible sounds in varying volumes from time to time, oc-

I

casionally increasing them to a frightening roar.

Then there is the tall, spare Afrikaner who is wont to patrol the whole area in his wheelchair, including the halls and the bedrooms.

He becomes quite belligerent when his path is obstructed by objects or people.

For the past two days he has been chair-bound. I suspect that they have impounded his wheelchair, and this is causing him great frustration.

He constantly calls for assistance and is largely ignored. Not that the staff ignore requests for help, but they know him and his real needs.

T

he third man is Pieter, who sits quietly at his lunch-table, reading (?) a book. On occasion he bellows that someone should cut his toenails, or asks whether he will be allowed to walk today. This morning he carried on for seemingly hours, demanding that the book he had left in his bedroom be fetched.

Intelligent conversation with most of these people is not possible; they are incapable of coherent thought or speech. They might and they do ramble on to any nearby person, but quite unintelligibly. And some don’t utter a word.

Feeding habits are not for the fastidious, but one accepts that there is no malice intended, even when a neighbour pokes his or her finger in another’s plate of food.

Visitors are few—it seems as if the patients, for patients they are, have

n their old age, most of these people have perhaps deserved more from their families than they are getting.

One must trust in the wisdom of God, but to us humans this dementia problem is a puzzle. We cannot know what goes on in the minds of people with any form of dementia.

Do they see the world as we do, is there just a vague understanding of happenings around them?

Where have the memories gone—the triumphs, the joys, the children, the grandchildren, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, perhaps mothers and fathers?

I’ve heard it said that they have had their lives, but what seeming cruelty has condemned them to this twilight existence, this total dependence on others for the most basic of functions.

We might be in a similar situation, in a year or so, or maybe later in life. It bears thinking about.

BE A SOUTHERN CROSS ASSOCIATE! Your contribution makes a difference

The Associates Campaign is an integral support to The Southern Cross ensuring that it continues its apostolic outreach, developing the means of transmitting our Catholic values in the new forms of media and safeguarding its future.

By BECOMiNg Or rEMAiNiNg AN ASSOCiATE yOu will:

• Safeguard the future of The Southern Cross. The Associates Campaign is a bedrock in which the existence of The Southern Cross is rooted.

• Enable us to develop our presence on the constantly evolving technological platforms to meet young Catholics where they are. This is a substantial but absolutely essential undertaking which our income from sales and advertising simply cannot cover.

• Support our apostolate to prisoners to help them convert to a life with Christ. As St Paul admonishes us: “Keep in mind those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them…since you too are in the one body” (Heb 13:3). Our outreach currently serves 24 prisons as well as six army bases; it is funded entirely by the Associates Campaign.

• Ensure that all our seminarians may have access to The Southern Cross so that they remain in touch with the events and thinking of the local and worldwide Church.

• Help us give young journalists a foundation in religious reporting at a time when the secular press covers our Church only in relation to bad news.

 □ □

□ □ □

Select

Cardinal Owen McCann Associate - annual contribution is R1500 or more. Cardinal Owen McCann Associates will receive a free postal or digital subscription to The Southern Cross.

St Maximilian Kolbe Associate - annual contribution of between R500 and R1499.

St Francis de Sales Associate - annual contribution of R100 or more.

Dorothy Day Associate - any amount.

Once-off payment

Title: ....... Name: .....................................................................

Address: ..................................................................................

...................................................Code: ....................................

Tel/Cell: ....................................................................................

Email: .......................................................................................

Banking details: Standard Bank, Thibault Square Branch (Code 020909), The Southern Cross, Acc No: 276876016 (please fax or e-mail deposit slip or confirmation) l Fax Number: 021 465-3850, Email: admin@scross.co.za □ Tick if you don’t wish your name published in our annual list of Associates

The Southern Cross, January 15 to January21, 2020

LOCAL

Top speakers for OP Day

T

HE Oakford Dominican Sisters will focus on spiritual complacency, the mission of Jesus, and “challenging privilege” in a series of talks.

The Dominican Family Day will be held at Koinonia in Bez Valley, Johannesburg, on January 25 from 8:30 with the theme “Decolonising Church and Society”.

Tebogo Moroe-Maphosa and Prof Terry Sacco of St Augustine College will talk on “Challenging Privilege”.

Theologian Dr Nontando Hadebe, also of St Augustine, will speak on “Challenging Religious and Spiritual Complacency”.

Fr Peter-John Pearson of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office will give his talk on the theme “What really matters? Realigning with the Mission of Jesus”.

All talks will be followed by questions and discussion, and Mass will be said after lunch.

The R75 cost covers the talks, tea and lunch, and booking is essential. n Contact Sr Alison Munro at alison @oakfordop.com by January 21.

CLARIFICATION: Our report in the December 26 to December 31 issue on the participation of Young Christian Students SA at a pan-African council in Harare described Fr Mokesh Morar as the local chaplain. Fr Morar is, in fact, the organiser for YCS SA. We apologise for the error.

Shaping the future for at-risk youth

BY ERIN CARELSE

W

ITH the youth unemployment challenge facing South Africa, the Salesian Institute Youth Projects (SIYP) is establishing new innovative programmes to launch this year.

The new programmes will be aimed at youth between the ages of 18 and 24 not in employment and not in further training or education, but to successfully do this, they will need support and funding.

“Many of the youth we work with come from poor, crime-ridden communities in and around Cape Town. Education and skills training offers hope for them. The skills acquired while at SIYP can break the cycle of poverty—in particular, when older youth are assisted with job placements that offer new and life-changing opportunities,” said Salesian Father Patrick Naughton, SIYP chief executive officer.

There are currently two main projects for youth at risk in the greater Cape Town area. The projects are managed by a board of directors and staff, consisting of Salesians who live on the premises and professionals from the corporate and education sectors.

The Learn to Live School of Skills is a programme specifically for vulnerable and at-risk children and youth. The school has been recognised as an independent school of skills by the Western Cape Education Department.

The programme provides basic education and skills training to youth at risk who, for a variety of socio-economic reasons, cannot cope in mainstream schooling.

The Salesian Institute Youth Projects in Cape Town is establishing new training programmes for unemployed youth in the area.

There are very few such schools.

The school currently caters for learners aged 14 to 18 studying at various levels.

All learners participate in academic classes and skills workshops and receive a cooked meal each day.

Approximately 240 children arrive daily from the various communities and shelters in and around Cape Town.

Ninety percent of learners either graduate, continue education in a different facility, attract learnerships or find employment.

The “Porsche Project” or PTRCZA, is the latest addition to the SIYP programmes and is part of the Porsche After-Sales Vocational Education (PAVE) worldwide network that offers new opportunities to youth in the mechatronics arena.

To sustain current programmes and augment new innovative programmes into the future, SIYP requires urgent funding to continue with the provision of specialised programmes of education, skills and vocational training for very poor and at-risk youth from disadvantaged communities in Cape Town.

“In all our work we seek to fulfil our purpose by offering hope, igniting self-respect, healing the past and forging a new future—none of which would be possible without the extraordinary commitment of the staff and volunteers of the Salesian Institute Youth Projects, who absolutely believe in its mission, as well as the unstinting support of our funders,” Fr Naughton said.

“Our mission,” he added, “is to provide for the physical, educa-

Buckets of Love aids poor again at Christmas Catholic Welfare and Development (CWD) in Cape Town ran its annual Buckets of Love programme for families in need at Christmas despite the organisation being in the process of closure.

CWD hopes to continue Buckets of Love as a legacy programme in future years.

C

ATHOLIC Welfare and Development (CWD) in Cape Town’s Buckets of Love Christmas campaign, which has been run for the past 22 years, was continued in 2019 despite CWD being in the process of closure.

Buckets of Love provides families in need with a bucket containing a food parcel for Christmas.

CWD’s Desirè Jackson, among the skeleton staff, ran the 2019 campaign, coordinating the fundraising, purchasing, and organising 51 volunteers to manage the packing and distribution of 2 194 Buckets of Love.

“CWD thanks annual Buckets of Love donors and regular donors, as well as all parishioners who contributed towards this campaign and those who volunteered,” said a representative.

“CWD is working to ensure that Buckets of Love continues as a legacy programme in future years.”

Catholic news that COUNTS

Online payment for easy renewal

3

Print or Digital

SUBSCRIBE Digital: R420 • Print R550

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

the catholic Newspaper, Standard Bank, thibault Sq Branch 020909, Acc No: 071534342

tional and spiritual needs of youth at risk through the provision of education, counselling, recreation and training, in a professional, caring and secure environment.”

The Salesians have a rich 109-year history in Cape Town serving the needs of youth at risk by providing education and skills development training.

This, in turn, facilitates employment in a country with appalling unemployment rates, particularly among the youth. Other figures indicate that nearly a third of the youth in the country live in poverty.

Despite these negative indicators, the SIYP’s 2018 annual report confirmed that 63% of the youth SIYP worked with were successfully placed in jobs through one of their programmes. This was achieved against the current youth unemployment rate of 55%.

SIYP is appealing to the greater public, locally and internationally, to provide much-needed support for learners of the Learn to Live School of Skills.

“We need help to keep continuing to change the lives of the youth of South Africa and to shape their lives into something more positive,” said Fr Naughton.

“We know we can’t stop crime, gangsterism or total unemployment, but we want to offer an alternative.”

“Sustained and specialised interventions with the support of the public, is exactly what we will continue to do for our youth and their future potential,” he said. n To donate, visit their website at www.salesianyouth.org.za or contact Frieda Pehlivan on 021 425-1450.

tony Wyllie & co. catholic Funeral Home Personal and Dignified 24-hour service

469 Voortrekker Rd, Maitland, Tel: 021 593 8820

48 Main Rd, Muizenberg, Tel: 021 788 3728 carol@wylliefunerals.co.za andrew@wylliefunerals.co.za Member of the NFDA

4

The Southern Cross, January 15 to January 21, 2020

INTERNATIONAL

China targets ‘unregistered’ New Sudan bishop controversy continues Catholic, Protestant churches

B

BY MICHAEL SAINSBURY

T

HE Chinese government has targeted unregistered Catholic and Protestant churches with a new expansion of rules and regulations governing religious organisations.

It will institute another raft of laws covering 41 religion-related topics two years after the implementation of another set of restrictive laws for religious groups in the country.

“The goal is to have all religious organisations brought into the open, registered in one way or another, and thus end the duality of ‘official’ religious organisations and ‘underground’ or unregistered, which in China means the government knows about them but let them be,” Francesco Sisci, a senior researcher at Beijing’s Renmin University said.

Observers have noted that, if widely implemented, Article 34 of the Chinese Communist Party paper would apply direct pressure on unregistered churches.

It would cover “all matters involving money and finances. In practice, every significant move by a religious community should be submitted to authorities and carried out only if approved,” according to AsiaNews, a Rome-based missionary news agency.

As many as 50% of China’s estimated 10-12 million Catholics worship in communities not registered with the Chinese government.

It is widely accepted by China experts familiar with the tactics of the Communist Party that the key driver behind Beijing signing the Septem-

The Chinese national flag flies in front of a Catholic church in Huangtugang, China. The Chinese government has targeted unregistered Catholic and Protestant churches with rules governing religious organisations. (Photo: Thomas Peter, Reuters/CNS) ber 2018 deal with the Holy See to regularise the appointment of bishops was to assert its control over the official Catholic Church.

Even more Protestants are believed to worship in unofficial or “house” churches. Estimates range from 30-60 million Protestants who worship in churches that do not belong to the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, which claims 28 million worshippers. The movement is the state-run religious body that oversees the collective Protestant churches.

State-run Xinhua announced the new regulations in the wake of numerous local governments across the country banning civic and religious celebration of Christmas.

The new rules govern the “organ-

isation, functions, supervision and management of religious groups”, everything from teachings to rallies, as well as annual and daily projects.

Last year, the Communist Party reiterated its ban on its 90 million members belonging to religious congregations, something that has been regularly ignored in practice.

It also banned people under 18 from worshipping in churches and mosques and participating in any church or mosque-run activities, including Bible and Quran study as well as holiday camps.

The new rules further ramp up the process of so-called Sinicisation (to make Chinese in character or bring under Chinese influence) of religion—effectively a project to embed the state in religion.—CNS

Pope will celebrate Mass with 50 Mediterranean bishops

P

OPE Francis will travel to the southern Italian seaport city of Bari in late February to close a meeting of bishops from countries bordering the Mediterranean, the Vatican confirmed.

The Vatican said he would celebrate Mass in Bari at the end of the “encounter for reflection and spiri-

tuality, ‘Mediterranean, Frontier of Peace’.”

Sponsored by the Italian bishops’ conference, the encounter from February 19-23 is expected to bring together more than 50 bishops from 19 Mediterranean nations in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Enkuthazweni Centre A BIG opportunity exists!

For an OT who is really passionate about helping children with disabilities.

Enkuthazweni Centre, a well known NGO for those with disabilities, is situated in Nemato township in the picturesque town of Port Alfred.

It has a school for children with intellectual disability, a skills centre for young adults with intellectual disability and a Rehab section for children with severe/profound disability.

The OT would manage and guide the Rehab section.

The ideal person would have a love for children with disability, and would be passionate about making a difference in their lives. She/he would lead a team of four community disability carers who currently visit the children in their homes to offer stimulation and assist their parents/ guardians.

Our hope in the next few years is to set up a Day Care Centre so that the children with severe and profound disability can come to the

Centre daily. The OT would help us draw up plans for this Day Care Centre and would help set it up.

For more information contact Sr. Mary at marymc@msassumption.org or 046 624 1470 or Mzameli Dikeni at 073 019 9813

ARI ethnic leaders in South Sudan have distanced themselves from critics of the newlyappointed archbishop of Juba. The archbishop has faced controversy since his December appointment for several reasons, including that he is not a member of the region’s predominant Bari tribe.

“Those indigenous clergy and faithful Bari who have rejected the appointment of the new archbishop for Juba do not reflect the position of the entire Bari community or their association, the Bari Community Association,” Cornelio Bepo Lado Kenyi, chairman of the Juba-based association said in a statement.

The statement adds that critics of the newly appointed Archbishop Stephen Ameyu “have not been mandated by either the community or the association”.

The Bari Community Association issued its statement after letters of protest were sent to the Vatican, protesting the appointment of Ameyu as archbishop. One letter was signed by three priests and five laymen, who identified themselves as “community elders”, and were widely understood to be presenting themselves as Bari tribal leaders.

Their letter gave three reasons for opposing the appointment, charging that government officials and some Juba priests had conspired to promote Bishop Ameyu as archbishop for personal interests, and had influenced a Vatican diplomat to that end; that a local priest could have been appointed; and alleging that Archbishop Ameyu has fathered at least six children.

They maintained that their opposition “should not be misinterpreted as tribalism”, saying they have “no objection to having a bishop from outside the archdiocese”, and noting that most of their bishops have not

The appointment of Bishop Stephen Ameyu of Torit diocese as the new archbishop of Juba in South Sudan has sparked protest.

(Photo: CNA) been indigenous.

“We are against a person brought from outside just to promote personal interests while maliciously leaving out the qualified sons of this land,” they wrote.

Leaders of the Bari ethnic group said the letter “sparked a lot of reactions in social media, with many negative references labelling the Bari community as a tribalistic community just because those who appended their signatures to the letter happen to come from the Bari tribe”.

“To be clear, they have neither sought the opinion of the Bari on the subject under reference nor have they been delegated to do so,” the Bari Community Association’s statement said.

The Sudanese bishops’ conference issued a statement supporting the appointment of Ameyu.

Neither Church nor Bari leaders have addressed the allegation made by critics that Archbishop Ameyu has six children and ongoing sexual relationships with women.—CNA

Migration obviously will be a major topic, given the numbers of people trying to enter Europe either from Turkey or from North Africa.

The bishops’ conference said the evangelisation of young people, unemployment, cultural exchanges and peacemaking are also expected to be discussed.—CNS

rEgiSTEr TO BE AN OrgAN DONOr TODAy www.odf.org.za

Toll Free 0800 22 66 11

VIVA SAFARIS KRUGER PARK with

Send your overseas friends and family on an unforgettable safari with ViVA SAFAriS

www.vivasafaris.com Bookings: vivasaf@icon.co.za or 071 842 5547

Vandals damaged the church of San Francisco de Borja in Santiago, Chile, during an anti-government protest. (Photo: Carabineros of Chile/CNA)

Mob sets fire to church serving Chilean police

A

MOB of masked protesters set fire to a Catholic church dedicated to serving the national police in Santiago, Chile, while an anti-government demonstration was in progress in nearby Plaza Italia.

According to local reports, a group of masked individuals surrounded St Francis Borgia Church, located two blocks away from the plaza, setting fire to a vehicle parked outside and then starting fires inside the church and an attached building.

Three companies of firemen arrived at the scene, but the masked mob blocked their passage and they were unable to put out the fire in a timely manner, according to reports.

The church was built in 1876 and was originally the Sacred Heart of Jesus chapel of St Borgia Hospital. In November 1975, it was set aside to serve the spiritual needs of the Carabineros, the national police force.

The church is situated in the same area of Santiago where As-

sumption and Veracruz (True Cross) churches were also set on fire last November.

The Carabineros tweeted: “We deeply regret to report that St Francis Borgia church where we have said farewell to our more than one thousand martyrs has been set on fire by a mob of vandals.”

Anti-government demonstrations broke out in mid-October in Santiago over a now-suspended increase in subway fares. Other regions joined in the protests, expanding their grievances to inequality and the cost of healthcare.

A number of churches across Chile have been attacked and looted amid the demonstrations in the country.

A Mass of reparation was offered in front of St Francis Borgia church celebrated by Chile’s bishop for the military and security forces, Santiago Silva Retamales.

In his homily, Bishop Silva said that although “they had burned the church, they had not burned the community, they did not burn the faith”.—CNA

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, January 15 to January 21, 2020

5

Women in the Church in the age of Pope Francis

BY CINDY WOODEN

P Firefighters line the road as a vehicle carrying the coffin of volunteer firefighter Andrew O’Dwyer passes en route to his funeral Mass at Our Lady of Victories Catholic church in Sydney. (Photo: NSW Rural Fire Service/Reuters/CNS)

Australian bishops: No end in sight to inferno

S

AYING that “there is no end in sight to the horror which confronts us”, Archbishop Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said the country’s bishops have implemented a national response to months of wildfires.

The bishops have set up a network, connecting people affected by the fires with “people who can help with tasks such as preparing meals, clearing properties, rebuilding communities, as well as pastoral and counselling support”.

“We have all seen the apocalyptic images, even if we are not in the areas most affected,” the archbishop said. “Lives have been lost, homes and towns have been destroyed, smoke has shrouded large swathes of our country.

“The efforts of firefighters have been heroic. The resilience of the communities affected has been extraordinary.”

At least 24 people have died in the fires, which began in August and now are in four states. CNN reported that more than 2 000 homes in the state of New South Wales alone had been destroyed.

Archbishop Coleridge said the bishops were aware of “the huge amount being done” by governments and first responders, and noted that local faith communities also were responding.

“This has been Australia at its best, and we all stand with those who have been most stricken and with those who are putting their lives on the line to fight the fires,” he said.

He also renewed his call for “insistent prayer for those stricken by drought and fire, for those who have lost their lives in the fires and their families, for rain to quench the parched land and extinguish the fires, and for urgent action to care for our common home in order to prevent such calamities in the future”.

“A genuinely Catholic response to a crisis of this magnitude must draw strength from prayer, which inspires concrete and compassionate action,” Archbishop Coleridge said.

He said experts recognised that it would be a long-term process to help people and whole towns rebuild.—CNS

OPE Francis sees the “masculine monochrome” of leadership and influence in the Catholic Church as “a defect, an imbalance” that harms the Church itself and its mission of proclaiming the Gospel to the world, said the lead article in a Vatican magazine.

“Women and Francis” is the theme of the January 2020 issue of Women-Church-World, a monthly supplement to L’Osservatore Romano.

The 24-page magazine opens with an article by Stefania Falasca, a Vatican correspondent for the Italian bishops’ daily newspaper Avvenire, titled “The urgency of overcoming a monochrome church”.

Taking Pope Francis’ repeated remarks about the Church “being feminine” and about how the Church cannot be itself without the presence, ministry, input and vision of women, Ms Falasca argues that for the pope, the question of women and the Church goes to the heart of one’s vision of the Church and what it means to say the Church is a communion.

In 1959, Bishop Leon Uriarte Bengoa of San Ramon, Peru, suggested the approaching Second Vatican Council discuss the restoration of the permanent diaconate and the institution of “deaconesses”, according to an article in the magazine by Serena Noceti, a professor at a Catholic school of theology in Florence, Italy.

She said Bishop Uriarte cited a need for more ordained ministers to preach the word of God and administer the sacraments in remote areas

The January 2020 edition of Donna Chiesa Mondo, the Vatican newspaper’s monthly supplement focused on what Pope Francis has said about women in the Church.

(Photo: CNS/Vatican Media) of the world.

The question came up again at October’s Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, she noted.

“While safeguarding the apostolicity of the faith,” Ms Noceti wrote, “the salvation of souls and the good of the Church” often has led to changes, including in the types of ministries and the theological understanding of them.

“In the framework of the vision of ordained ministry handed on by the Second Vatican Council, systematic theology today is called to evaluate

the possibility of ordaining women deacons,” she said.

In another article, Marinella Perroni, a biblical scholar at Rome’s Pontifical University of St Anselm, noted how Pope Francis has said on occasion that women do not need simply more “functions” in the Church, but that the Church needs a “theology of the woman”.

She said if she had a chance to discuss the issue with the pope, she would point out how, throughout history, male theologians—from Tertullian to St John Paul II—have spoken about women. Their comments have varied greatly, she said, but they always express “the need and perhaps the pretext of having something to say about women”.

“In addition, more than once someone even has suggested dedicating a Synod of Bishops to the theme of the woman,” she said, admitting that she and many others think that would be a bad idea.

“Isn’t the unstoppable exodus— as silent as it is painful—of many women who have left churches in the few past years a strong word, a cry that the women launched because they do not want people to keep talking about them, but want to be listened to?” she asked.

In the Church, she said, everyone has a different role and different gifts to bring, but all the baptised are fully members of the Church and have an equal right to share that with the wider community without one group being the “subject” of the conversation and the other being the “object” of it.—CNS

Passion Pilgrimage 2020

Pope: Worldly spirit blurs lines between good, evil

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

C

HRISTIANS must be on guard against the spirit of worldliness that confuses and blurs the lines between what is good and what is evil, Pope Francis said.

While the Holy Spirit gives men and women “the strength to remain in the Lord”, there are still Christians who “even today identify the Holy Spirit only with the dove”, the pope said in his homily during morning Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

“The Holy Spirit brings you to God and if you sin, the Holy Spirit protects you and helps you to get up,” he said. “But the spirit of the world brings you to corruption, to the point that you can’t distinguish between what is good and what is bad; it is all the same, everything is the same.”

In his homily, the pope reflected on the reading from 1 John in which the apostle encourages the early Christian community to “not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God” or the world.

“What is this putting the spirit to the test?” the pope asked. “It is simply this: When you feel something, when you want to do something or you have an idea, a judgment of something, ask yourself, ‘Does this feeling come from the spirit of God or the spirit of the world?’”

Too many Christians today, he said, “live without knowing what is happening in their own hearts” and “do not know how to examine” what is happening within them.

Pope Francis celebrates morning Mass in the chapel of his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, at the Vatican. (Photo: Vatican Media/CNS) Pope Francis encouraged the faithful to examine their consciences and to take a moment during the day or before going to bed to reflect on “what has passed in my heart today”.

“What is the spirit that has moved within my heart?” he asked.

“The Spirit of God, the gift of God, the Holy Spirit that always leads me forward to the encounter with the Lord or the spirit of the world that distances me softly, slowly from the Lord and is a very, very slow, slippery slope?”

“Let us ask for this grace of remaining in the Lord, and let us pray to the Holy Spirit so that we may remain in the Lord and that he may give us the grace of distinguishing the spirits, that is, what is moving within us,” the pope said.—CNS

Holy Land & Oberammergau Passion Play Performed only every 10 years!

Led by Archbishop William Slattery OFM 21 Aug to 2 Sept 2020 To book contact Gail at info@fowlertours.co.za or phone 076 352-3809 www.fowlertours.co.za/passion

6

The Southern Cross, January 15 to January 21, 2020

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

The Church in public

O

NE of the areas of tension between secularising societies and religion, especially Catholicism, is the secularist determination to drive religion out of the public discourse and into the margins of society, with the demand that faith should be treated purely as private practice.

The secularists insist that religion be silenced and relinquish all influence on societal ethics and public policies. In their view, God is irrelevant and religion is poisonous, so the Church should just shut up and pray.

Of course, the influence of religion, when it is distorted, can be malign. Pogroms and genocides are being committed even today under the banners of religion. And people of faith—Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists—must oppose the persecutions that are pursued in their name by their co-religionists.

But even if religion is the cause of some evil in the world, it is also a tremendous force for good in societies.

It is this good that needs to find expression in the public discourse.

We don’t presume to comment on behalf of other religions and Christian groups, but as Catholics we must resist all efforts to drive our Church into the periphery, to privatise our faith, to shut us up.

Our Church must maintain its public presence in pluralist societies. We might need to express our positions with greater humility, acknowledging that in many countries the political influence of the Church has diminished, as Pope Francis noted last month when he addressed the Roman curia.

We must choose our battles wisely, and always witness Christ more than we do our particular partisan positions.

But we must not allow ourselves to be marginalised and silenced.

The demand that we occupy our place at the table of public life, however, requires a necessary concession: we must accept that, like any public entity, the Church and its values are liable to be criticised, opposed, ridiculed and insulted by those who oppose them.

This was the case when media provider Netflix in Brazil broadcast a blasphemous “comedy”

programme titled The First Temptation of Christ. The programme clearly intended to cause offence in portraying Jesus as a homosexual, the Virgin Mary as adulterous, and the apostles as drunks.

Catholics were entitled to be appalled and offended—though nobody has the right to firebomb the offices of those who offend us, as a group of right-wing Brazilians did on Christmas Eve. More reasonably, many Christians cancelled their Netflix subscription in protest, as is their right.

We, the People of God, are insisting that the values of our faith should be heard on matters of policy and public morality. Unavoidably, this also affects people who do not share our faith or its values.

So as we engage in public discourse, we must concede that our Church and our faith will be attacked. If we want our Church in the public forum, then part of the deal is that it will be subject to comment, and even blasphemous insult.

We may and should state our objections to these insults forthrightly, but may then be responded to in kind (including being accused of bigotry, whether that is true or not). We dish it out, and we must be willing to take it, too.

There is a corollary to this, however. A society which allows having religion targeted in the public sphere has no right to at the same time force religion to the periphery as a “private issue”.

Blasphemous material such as the Brazilian show provides us with a powerful counter-argument to the privatisation of religion. The secularists can’t decide to put religion into the public discourse only when it suits them.

In a pluralist society we must expect that what we hold dear may be treated with scorn by others. Inevitably, we will get offended by something. Inevitably, our positions will offend others.

But even when the mockery is gratuitous, engagement may witness Christ better than displays of acute anger. Encounter may change hearts more fruitfully than reflex condemnation.

As for Jesus: He has had much worse done to him than the broadcast of third-rate satire by fifth-rate comedians—and still he is God.

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.

‘I made no claim to expertise in Pell case’

A

FTER reading the January 1 Southern Cross, I wondered what Vincent Botto (“Cardinal Pell case ‘experts’ not necessarily right”) was actually getting at. Neither Adrian Collingwood, Tim O’Toole nor I have anywhere in our letters to the editor claimed to be experts. So why the label?

The only thing I do claim is that I have on a couple of occasions celebrated Holy Mass in St Patrick’s cathedral in Melbourne. That enables me to visualise the probability or even possibility of what is alleged to have happened, actually happening in that sacristy and at that time, the busiest on a Sunday morning!

Comparing it to a railway station

Our burnt church will rise again

F

RIDAY, January 11, 2019. People were milling around Kleinmond town hall preparing for the return of firefighters from their ten-hour shift.

They had been battling mountain fires for the past ten days.

As they filed into the hall amid singing and clapping, the team leader was asked what the situation was. I turned icy-cold as I heard his reply: “Houses are burning in Betty’s Bay and the Roman Catholic church burned this afternoon.” That was my home, my spiritual home!

After ministering to the teams, I drove home that evening, through a moonscape, to our lovely church.

All that remained were the walls, the marble name and the statue of Our Lady standing proudly above the main outer wall where a stained glass window had, a few hours previously, overlooked the ocean.

At the rear, the wood-carved statue of St Francis of the Fynbos had escaped the flames. This was the dedication name our Anglican community gave this church where they had worshipped for over 40 years.

Sadly, the Blessed Sacrament and ciborium melted in the intense heat, but the tabernacle was largely intact.

A year on, I revisited the site and gazed at the remains of our church. I prayed for parishioners whose ashes now mingle with those that lie in the Garden of Remembrance.

On that fateful day when the flames poured down the mountainside, a part of my soul died, as happened to so many other people.

However, our Catholic community remains strong, continuing to visit the sick, comfort the sorrowful—for this is what we are about.

Around us, homes are being rebuilt, nature is revitalised, animals are returning. Life is rising from the ashes and so, too, shall we.

We continue to celebrate weekly Mass in the local Dutch Reformed

PRICE CHECK

was simply to point out how busy it was at that time, and therefore give reason for my questioning the likelihood of the abusive actions taking place as alleged.

Secondly, in my last letter I actually expressed a concern that the handling of the Cardinal Pell case could work against the better interests of the victims of abuse.

Mr Botto rightly points out that Cardinal Pell was found guilty, but omits to mention the extraordinary circumstances.

By that I mean the incredible swing from ten jurors for acquittal against two jurors for a guilty verdict in the first trial, to a 12-0 guilty verdict in the second.

Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross 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

church who, a mere 12 hours after the tragedy, offered us the use of their facilities. We are very grateful to them, but we long for the Blessed Sacrament to once again be permanently reserved in our midst.

Until then, we pray: “Our Lady of Montserrat, intercede with your Son on our behalf, asking that we may soon rededicate our church in the Overstrand to you. Amen.”

Donations to rebuild the church can be made to: Account: Building Fund, Standard Bank Thibault Square Branch; Acc: 070413320; Ref: Donor Name/Cell/e-mail Janet Hyland, Overstrand, Western Cape

Do good despite ongoing injustice

I

N his column “How justice trumps charity” (December 25), Fr Ron Rolheiser describes a river town whose people constantly bury the dead who float past but do not seek the cause of this flow, and what he terms their opportunity for charity.

It is much more than this. Not all are called to be statesmen, politicians, mayors or popes, even. The rubbish is collected daily by those whose job no statesman would do, no matter how much justice there was in the world.

The source of injustices and our duty to rectify them is in direct proportion to our opportunity to do so.

Villagers cannot stop a military junta from killing their neighbours—so do the next best thing!

Fr Rolheiser mentions privatised charities where a name is placed on an institutionalised charity as being somehow corrupt. Beware of phi-

S outher o u t h e r n C ross rro oss ou uther

January y 8 to January y 14 , 20 2 0

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

What’s behind the new Two Popes film?

Page 10

No 516 9

www.scross.co.za

Time capsule: Travel back to January 1936

Page 11

R12 (incl VAT RSA)

BY ERIN CARELSE

T

P ilgrima ge 020 Pilgrimage 2020 ag ge 2

So u t h e r n C rross o ss outher os ss

The Baptism of Christ is depicted in a painting by Italian Renaissance painter Cima da Conegliano, dating from 1492. It is seen above the high altar in the church of San Giovanni i n Br a g o ra i n Ve n i c e . Th e fe a s t o f th e Ba p ti s m o f th e L o rd i s c e l e b ra te d o n th e fi rst Su n d a y fo l l o w i n g th e E p i p h a n y, w h i c h th i s y e a r i s o n J a n u a r y 1 2 .

HIS year’s feast of Bl Benedict Daswa will mark the 30th anniversar y of his martyrdom.

The celebrations for the Februar y 1 feast will this year run under the Vatican-approved theme “The 30th Anniversar y of Martyrdom (Pearl Jubilee Year of Martyrdom)”.

Bl Benedict Tshimangadzo Daswa was murdered by a mob on Februar y 2, 1990— the day on which President FW de Klerk unbanned the African National Congress and other liberation movements.

Bl Daswa, a 43-year-old teacher, was martyred for his refusal to participate in a witch hunt.

Before the feast day,, a novena will be prayed from Januar y 23-31.

People throughout the region are encouraged to pray for the favours and graces they need during these nine days. They can use the Daswa novena booklet which is available for download in various languages from the official Benedict Daswa website: www.benedictdaswa.org.za.

The booklet is also available in print from the Daswa office in the diocese of Tzaneen, and from Nweli church, where Bl Daswa is entombed.

Also available online and through SACBC dioceses are the official “Prayer to Implore Favours” and “Prayer for Canonisation”.

The Februar y 1 feast of Bl Daswa may be celebrated as a memorial in all dioceses and parishes in the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference region.

The celebrations of the feast day will be held at Tshitanini village near Thohoyandou in the diocese of Tzaneen. This is the site of

Centeenary Jubilee Year

Page 2

MEDJUGORJE ROME • ASSISI • LORETO Led by Archbishop Stephen Brislin w w w.fo w l e r to u rs . c o . za / m e d j u

or

CELEBRAATING 30th ANNIVERSARRY OF MARTYRDOM TYR 02/02/1990 to 02/02/2020

Come and join the Diocese of Tzaneen aneen in honour honouring ring Blessed Tshimangadzo Samuell Benedict Daswa Main Celebrant: Cardinal Wilfred Nap pier OFM Where: dƐŚŝƚĂŶŝŶŝ ƉůĂĐĞ ŽĨ ďĞĂƟĮĐĂƟŽŶ Ǻ y 2020 When: 1st Februar F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TAC T T H E P R O M OT E R:

Bl. Benedict Daswa Pray for us

Email: bendaswa@mweb.co.za Cell number: 076 570 8843

T h e p o s t e r w h i c h p r o m o t e s t h i s y e a r ’s f e a s t o f Bl Be n e d i c t Ts h i m a n g a d z o D a s w a .

Bl Daswa’s beatification on September 13, 2015, and where the future shrine and pilgrimage centre will be located.

The liturgical colour is red as Bl Daswa died a martyr.

The Vatican’s Sacred Congregation for Divine Wo orship has officially approved proper liturgical texts for the celebration of the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours. These Continued on page 2

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 Croa a.

Three countries in one tour!

Feed your soul with The

S outher n C ross

IT’S WORTH IT!

How I met angels in a supermarket

I

RECENTLY had a wonderful experience I would like to share.

I went shopping on Christmas Eve at a busy supermarket in Parklands, Cape Town. I found a queue with just one lady and her daughter of about five ahead of me. She said to go ahead of her as she wasn’t in a hurry. Thanking her, I did.

When all my groceries were rung up, I took out my purse to pay, when the lady moved me aside and said, no, she was going to pay for me as a Christmas gift. She explained that her daughter had said I looked like her gran.

I was flabbergasted as the groceries came to a few hundred rands, but she insisted.

I was overcome with tears. I didn’t know her at all. I thanked her profusely and went to my car.

While loading the boot, the same woman came over and said her daughter wanted to know my name.

I told her it’s Ann. Imagine the surprise when she said her daughter’s name is Reanne, her mother is Ann, and she was Carrol Ann. Now it was my turn to be surprised, because my name is Ann Carrol.

I will never forget that wonderful gesture. Thank you again Carrol Ann; God will truly bless you and your family for making a senior citizen’s day that much more special.

There are angels on earth!

Ann Gover, Cape Town

let Fowler Travel arrange all your travel needs!

Mother of Bl Benedict Daswa dead at 95

Church gears up for 30th anniversary of Daswa murder

lanthropy, wonderful as it is—it can confuse the charity we are doing with the justice that is asked of us.

Continue to do good, for the world will never be ideal. Economic disparities are harsh. It is not necessarily our ticket to heaven to feed the poor, but it’s a whole lot better than throwing up our hands and saying, it’s not my fault. I voted for justice!

Lucy Rubin, Pretoria

URSULINE SISTERS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

For the price of one issue of The Southern Cross you get a chocolate bar – with a bite taken out T he The

Even for a totally non-legal person, that’s a phenomenal swing, especially if exactly the same “facts” were being considered!

I trust Mr Botto will accept that in none of my letters did I claim to be an “expert” nor did I claim that detestable title “the highest ranking cleric in South Africa”, or even worse “the head of the Church in South Africa”!

Rather than honorific titles, I have tried to live the words of St Augustine: “For you I am a Bishop, with you I am a Christian.”

But as I write this letter, I do so also as a friend of Cardinal Pell!

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier OFM, Durban

We are the Ursulines Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, caring for the sick, education and pastoral work.

Do you feel called? Contact us !!!

Sr Irene Shange Cell: 061 854 0890

Sr Cecilia Mavuthela Cell: 072 437 42 44

Email: zandileziningi@yahoo.com or Email: provincial@stursula.co.za

Local or overseas holidays, local or international business trips, group tours — all tailored to your particular needs.

We can even arrange your airport transfers!

Ask about our Special Holiday Packages!

With Fowler Travel you get personal service. And if you ever get stuck, you’ll know whom to call!

Call Michael now at 083 704-5063 or michael@fowlertravel.co.za

PERSPECTIVES

How to deepen our faith this year Fr Runaine T Radine HE new civil year began on the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord, the day on which the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. The Gospel reading for the Mass on this day transported us to the manger at Bethlehem (Lk 2:16-21). Already on the fourth Sunday of Advent we reflected on the silent acceptance and obedience to God’s will of St Joseph, and we saw this again in the story of the Flight into Egypt on the feast of the Holy Family.

Perhaps we could adopt the inner spiritual attitude of Our Lady and St Joseph as we enter into a new year with all the prayers and resolutions we wish to make, coming from our hopes, wishes and dreams.

After the shepherds found Mary and Joseph, and the baby Jesus, lying in a manger, they repeated what they had been told about him.

Having received the testimony of these lowly ones, “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2: 19).

Commenting on this passage, Pope Benedict XVI, in a New Year’s Day homily given at St Peter’s basilica in 2006, said: “The Evangelist Luke describes her as the silent Virgin who listens constantly to the eternal Word, who lives in the Word of God. Mary treasures in her heart the words that come from God and, piecing them together as in a mosaic, learns to understand them.

“Let us too, at her school, learn to become attentive and docile disciples of the Lord. With her motherly help, let us commit ourselves to working enthusiastically in the ‘workshop’ of peace, following Christ, the Prince of Peace.

“After the example of the Blessed Virgin, may we let ourselves be guided always and only by Jesus Christ, who is the

same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8).

One of the best resolutions we can make for any day, any new year, and certainly for this new decade, is to deepen our faith and live our vocation as disciples of Christ, baptised and sent.

Our Catholic traditions and customs can make this somewhat easier for us. As a start, every month of the year is dedicated to a particular devotion. The month of January, for instance, is in honour of the Most Holy Name of Jesus.

This provides a spiritual framework to guide us through the year.

I

f one desires to deepen one’s understanding of the Scriptures this year, the daily readings for Mass is a good place to start.

How about punctuating the day with popular prayers like the morning offering to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; a prayer to Holy Spirit before beginning the day’s work?

There is the Angelus, which can be said

There are many ways in which we can deepen our faith, and Fr Runaine Radine suggests some. (Photo: Enrique Marcarian, Reuters/CNS)

Paths of Vocation

in the morning, at noon and in the evening.

A helpful way to end the day is by doing an Examination of Conscience.

Admittedly, spending long periods in prayer is difficult, but making the effort to stick to a particular routine or spending more frequent shorter moments in prayer throughout the day can be fruitful.

For all of this to happen effectively, we need to create and appreciate silence and solitude.

Is the Sunday Mass still the highlight of our week as Catholics? Is weekday Mass only for retirees? How often do we make use of the sacrament of confession?

The sacraments, especially the Eucharist and penance, are channels of healing and peace, and we can participate in them frequently. This can bring us the happiness for which we long.

Families can grow together in the faith this year by simply, yet devoutly, praying together before and after meals or saying the Rosary as a family.

Each member of the family could revisit the story of their particular patron saint and, when the feast day comes around, present the life and meaning of the saint to the whole family, in a spiritual or social setting. In so doing, families can be moved to carry out some work of justice and mercy.

Above all, like Mary and Joseph, let us keep Christ at the centre of our lives this new year, witnessing to the Lord in word and deed, wherever we find ourselves, relying always on God’s grace.

I’ve made no big plans for the 2020s Sarah-Leah I Pimentel T’S the beginning of a new year and there is a sense of expectation in the air.

It’s probably the same every year, but maybe there’s a little more excitement now because it’s also the start of a new decade.

In the opening days of the year, I read several articles that carried a hint of nostalgia, comparing the barely-begun 2020s with the 1920s.

The 1920s marked a time of great change. Europe had recently emerged from a devastating world war and the new decade offered the promise of new beginnings.

In America, the “Roaring ‘20s” prefaced the cultural revolution that would reach its peak in the 1960s. People defied the Prohibition laws which outlawed alcohol, and the flappers represented a certain liberation from traditional, social, moral and religious norms.

It was also the start of the feminist movement and the beginning of a battle for equality that continues today.

Looking at it from a Christian perspective, we recognise that the changes of the last century brought both opportunities and challenges to the Christian life.

The separation between religion and society, on the one hand, contributed to the breakdown of traditional family structures and values.

On the other hand, the deinstitutionalisation of faith meant that faith in God, discernment of the moral life, became a personal journey that involves the heart and the mind, rather than purely a set of rules to be followed.

Perhaps the transition from the previous decade into the 2020s is not all that different from what our grandparents and great-grandparents experienced.

As I scrolled through my social media feeds on New Year’s Day, I realised that we still live under a form of societal control.

New Year’s resolutions revolved around plans for overseas holidays, more money, a better body—in sum, for a more perfect life. This perfect life is measured by dollar bills and a postcard version of reality.

Trying to live up to the unrealistic expectations of this new secular religion of personal success called “Status” becomes debilitating. Unless we can check everything on this list of values, we’ll be made to feel inadequate. The result is anxiety, anger, and mental illness.

I feel that, like the flappers of the

The Mustard Seeds

This year, Sarah-Leah Pimentel made no New Year’s resolution, because unity with the heart of God is only possible if she’s not constantly chasing after new stars.

1920s, I also want to be freed from the ever-increasing expectations of how we define a successful life today. I want something else for this new decade.

Despite that, I’ve entered 2020 without really knowing what I wish for. I probably need a new car, but the old one still goes (some of the time). I’m likely to travel later this year for a conference and hope to be able to take a little time off. I am excited about a new business endeavour and really want all our hard work to pay off.

But these are all external things. What do I really want? What do I really wish for in this decade?

Of course, I want my loved ones to be healthy and safe. It goes without saying that I want to deepen my faith and my relationship with God. I want time to build the relationships with people who are meaningful to my life.

These are all good. But they are also what I pray for each morning when I wake up. That is not the stuff of New Year’s resolutions.

I

t occurred to me that I’m entering this new decade without any deep desires.

There is nothing major I want to change in my life right now. I have no big plans and am content to simply carry on doing what I was doing before. In the hype of starting a new decade, it feels like I’m missing out for not having any big plans or expectations.

A friend of mine said that if I compare my New Year’s resolutions to someone else’s, I will immediately begin to feel inadequate. But as I get older, I realise that it’s more than that. These grandiose plans for the year are often about wanting more.

Ultimately, I realised that I actually want less.

I feel that if we fill our lives with so many plans and expectations, we miss the unexpected ways in which God surprises us by giving us what we really needed but didn’t realise. When we are hellbent on living up to unrealistic expectations, we become discouraged when our dreams and plans don’t work out, and often miss out on the far better plan that God has for us.

When we go in search of the big highlights in our lives, we risk not recognising the incredible wonder of every day. If we expect our jobs to be interesting every day, our families to inspire us constantly, our holidays to take our breath away, then we forget the value of the struggle and the joy of the ordinary.

God is in the mundane and repetitive work task. The Holy Spirit moulds us as we struggle with dealing with a wayward child, teaches us patience in the difficulties of family life. Jesus sits next to us in the car as we drive to work.

But we need to turn off the unnecessary distractions in order to perceive the presence of the Trinity in our midst.

God is not in the constant assault of new experiences. He is in the little moments of every day. Being present in the moment allows us to see the world through Jesus’ eyes.

This slowing down is what allows us to see Zaccheus in the tree amidst the bustling crowed. Quietness allows us to observe the widow placing her last coin into the offering box. Silence allows us to be ready for Christ to come in the last watch of the night.

But this unity with the heart of God is only possible if I’m not constantly chasing after new stars.

For this reason, I’m quite happy that I don’t have any New Year’s resolutions or any overwhelming expectations.

I want the Father’s love to surprise me.

I want God to shape my year.

I would rather turn to the blank page of this year and wait for God to write on it.

What do you want for this new year and new decade?

The Southern Cross, January 15 to January 21, 2020

Fr Pierre Goldie

7

Christ in the World

Why Jesus is your real Boss

W

ORK was always the intention of our Creator, a mission to be co-creators with God in completing an unfinished

world.

We are told to “subdue the earth” (Gen 1:28), so that work should not be seen as a punishment for original sin.

However, after the original sin, the blessing becomes a curse and all the hardships, toils and tension related with work derive from this “curse”, this wounding of human nature (Gen 3:17-19).

Work is intimately linked to family life, as the family is a community made possible by work, Pope John Paul II said in his 1981 encyclical Laborem Exercens, which was issued on the 90th anniversary of Pope Leo XII’s milestone document on the world of work, Rerum Novarum (1891).

There is a need for a family wage, sufficient for the needs of the family, Pope John Paul wrote, but in the way our economy is structured, this is unattainable for many, taking into account medical, educational and retirement needs.

Pope John Paul contended that women have an irreplaceable role as mothers and should not need to abandon taking care of the family. This will be challenged by some women!

Although the pope used a type of Marxist analysis of work, Catholic Social Teachings are adamantly against socialism. But trade unions are seen as basically constructive factors in society.

Genesis 2:2-3 reveals how God worked for six days and rested on the seventh day, which he requires to be kept holy (Exodus 20:8-11). However, many people are prevented from honouring this command by the terms of their employment.

In John 5:17 we read that “my Father continues to work”, working with creative power by sustaining in existence the world called to being from nothing, as Pope John Paul noted in Laborem Exercens.

Work is a participation in God’s activity, contributing to the realisation of God’s divine plan.

In Mark 6:3 we find the Gospel of work—Jesus who is a carpenter, who ennobles the realm of work by his participation in meaningful activity.

T

here are many references to occupations in both the Old and New Testament, including physicians, shepherds, fishermen, craftsmen, scholars, vinedressers.

Jesus frequently referred to the world of work in his parables and stories. Paul boasts of his work as a tentmaker, in order not to impose on his flock. He exhorts the community to work, to earn a living (2 Thess 3:10-12).

To the Colossians, he wrote: “Whatever you are doing, put your whole heart into it, as if you were doing it for the Lord and not for men (sic), knowing that there is a master who will give you an inheritance as reward for your service. Christ is the master you must serve” (3:23-24).

This makes Jesus our real Boss!

It seems clear that legitimate work of any type is the ordinary means by which our sanctity is achieved, we do not have to be priests or religious to be holy; work, with its challenges, is the ordinary means of sanctification for most people.

Laborem Exercens argues that by enduring the “toil” of work in union with the Crucified Christ, we collaborate in a way with the Son of God in the work of the redemption of humanity.

The worker carries their cross every day, which is a small share in the Cross of Christ, accepted in the spirit of redemption. Our work in the material world can contribute to the better ordering of society, to the advancement of God’s Kingdom on Earth by making life more human.

The expectation of a new heaven and a new earth should not weaken our concern for cultivating this world.

I recall the funeral of a religious priest who had Continued on page 11

The lArgEST Catholic online shop in South Africa!

we specialise and source an extensive variety of products, some of which include: *Personalised rosaries *Priest Chasubles *Altar linen *Church items *Bells *Chalices *Thuribles *Personalised Candles, etc.

Tel: 012 460-5011 | Cell: 079 762-4691 | Fax: 0123498592 Email: info@catholicshop.co.za

8

The Southern Cross, January 15 to January 21, 2020

COMMUNITY

The congregation of Our Lady Star of the Sea church in Amanzimtoti, near Durban, were greeted on Christmas Eve by this display.

(Submitted

by José Perestrelo)

Nazareth House, alongside the Good Hope Christmas Brass Band, and members from St Catherine’s and Holy Redeemer parishes, hosted a Carols by Candlelight in the gardens of the Nazareth House Cape Town estate. Children from the parishes took part in a nativity play. (Submitted by Sr Anne Margaret Craig SND)

Send your photos to

pics@scross.co.za

The Neocatechumenal Way in Cape Town staged its sixth annual “living Nativity” procession, this year taking to the streets of Wallacedene township to bring “courage” and the Good News to people. (Photo: Dominic Donough) Christmas Day 2019 was a very special day at Pelo e Tlotlehang (Sacred Heart) parish in Maseru, Lesotho, and included 142 children making their First Communion. The Mass was said by parish priest Fr John Thompson SDB and Fr Lingoane Tlaile SDB, with singing and dancing. (Submitted

by Kevin Luk)

Blessed Sacrament parish in Virginia, Durban North, celebrated the First Communion of young parishioners.

With the communicants and catchiest is Deacon Mike O’Neil and Fr James Ralston OMI. (Submitted by Gabi van der Merwe)

Candle

May it be a fire for you to burn out of me all pride, selfishness and impurity.

May it be a flame for you to bring warmth into my heart towards my family, my neighbours and all those who meet me.

I cannot stay long with you in this church; In leaving this candle I wish to give to you something of myself

Help me to continue my prayer into everything I do this day. enlarge- print- frame it - distribute

Amen

Fr James John Towell OMI celebrated the diamond jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood. Fr Towell, who is retired at St Charles’ parish in Victory Park, Johannesburg, was the first resident parish priest at St John’s in Northriding and served the parish for 18 years. Fr Towell is seen at the family lunch with his brothers Norman and Sidney who composed a poem of tribute to him. Also at the event were Fr Towell’s five sisters-in-law and one brother-in-law representing the siblings who had passed on. Sr Elizabeth Towell, his sister and fellow religious, had sadly passed on two years earlier. (Submitted by Garth Towell)

The church of the Resurrection in Table View, Cape Town, celebrated the confirmation of young parishioners.

They are seen with (seated from left) Fr Carlo Adams OSFS, Auxiliary Bishop Sylvester Davids OMI, and Fr Chris Ovies OSFS, with (standing) youth minister Leonardo Sforza. (Photo: Melanie Pisanello)

Lord, May this candle be a light for you to enlighten me in my difficulties and decisions.

Through the prayers of Mary Virgin and Mother I place in your care those I come to pray for (especially…………..)

Fr Bram Martijn celebrated his retirement Mass at Ss Simon and Jude church in Simon’s Town, Cape Town archdiocese, after 23 years serving the parish. He has retired to Nazareth House in Cape Town. Assisting him is Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist Dorothy Fewell, who has also retired after 25 years at the parish. (Submitted

by Chris Moerdyk)

Young members of All Saints parish in Ennerdale, Johannesburg, celebrated their confirmation with Auxiliary Bishop Duncan Tsoke.

(Photo: Mashadi Makhondo)

The Southern Cross, January 15 to January 21, 2020

FILM

9

How Church shaped the movies Once upon a time, the Catholic Church dictated to Hollywood what was morally permissible in movies, as CHAZ MUTH explains.

M

Mass did feel an obligation to recite the oath, Mr Mulderig said.

“I presume that if you refused to do that, you would be somewhat conspicuous,” he noted.

As a boy in the 1950s, Jesuit Father Kenneth Meehan was an enthusiastic movie patron who had three cinemas near his childhood Baltimore home. He eagerly awaited the Legion of Decency newsletter to arrive in the post, telling him about the movies ready for wide release.

Fr Meehan admitted that he frequently looked for the movies condemned by the Legion, figuring that if the Church saw fit to be outraged by the content, the film was probably racy enough to satisfy an adolescent’s salacious appetite.

Regardless of his youthful indiscretion of mind, Fr Meehan did answer the call of God and during his summer break from seminary studies, he took a job at the New York office of NCOMP in the early 1970s as a movie reviewer.

“This was a dream come true for me,” he said. “I was allowed to blend my calling with my love of the movies and of writing.”

He would use his movie reviewing experience after he was ordained a priest, teaching in Catholic schools for the next several decades, frequently in classes dedicated to film studies.

OVIES have enchanted the public since the late 19th century, providing audiences with vivid storytelling on a host of topics and conceptually transporting them to distant places.

The art form was able to merge literature, theatre and even biblical accounts, and project it all onto acCovers of directories of films rated in the 1950s by the US Legion of cessible screens for the masses to Decency.

From the 1930s to the ‘50s, the Catholic Church exerted an take in. enormous amount of influence over the morality of Hollywood movies.

However, as the film industry grew in the early 20th century, (Photos: Chaz Muth/CNS) Catholic Church leaders became Hollywood studios adopted the gion of Decency Pledge,” Mr Dick concerned about some of the con- code to avoid governmental censor- recalled.

Catholic movie reviewer John tent that had become so readily ship, and that code actually led to Mulderig. His review of The Two The following is a version of that available to their flock. the disbanding of many local cen- pledge: Popes ran in last week’s issue.

Priests in the United States began sorship boards.

“I condemn all indecent and imto discuss films they deemed objecIt gave Mr Breen the power to moral motion pictures, and those Decency’s name change to the Nationable during Mass and to in- change scripts before shooting actu- which glorify crime or criminals. I tional Catholic Office for Motion struct the faithful to stay away from ally began, and he’d frequently tell promise to do all that I can to Pictures. This was meant to reflect “sinful” content. producers what they strengthen public opinion against that the organisation’s mission had Throughout the United needed to alter in their the production of indecent and imevolved, that some of its moral States, Catholic groups The faithful films to avoid a “C moral films, and to unite with all standard requirements had become began to organise in an efwho protest against them.

I ac(Condemned) Rating” obeyed the by the Legion of De- knowledge my obligation to form a less stringent. fort to influence filmmakIt began to publish reviews that ers into creating content Church and cency, whose reviewers right conscience about pictures that evaluated the artistic qualities of a that reflected moral stanwere given an advance are dangerous to my moral life. I given film. dards and wouldn’t lead boycotted screening before its re- pledge myself to remain away from The name changed again in the Change in morality viewers to sin. them.

I promise, further, to stay 1970s to the Catholic Office of Film cinemas for lease.

In 1915, the US Supreme During the middle of the 20th “No exhibitor would away altogether from places of and Broadcasting.

Court ruled in its Mutual want to release a C-rated amusement which show them as a century, the Church grappled with showing In 2010, it became the Media ReFilm Corporation v Induschanges in taste and public moralmatter of policy.” movie,” said Bernard view Office of Catholic News Servtrial Commission of Ohio ity and its impact on the film indusThough the pledge was voluncondemned Dick, a renowned film ice (CNS), which is owned by the decision that free speech scholar, author and tary and didn’t carry penalties from try changed.

US bishops but is editorially indedid not extend to movies, movies In the 1960s came the Legion of the Church to violators, people at movie reviewer for the pendent. and states throughout the National Catholic Office By the 1980s, the Catholic film US began to introduce cenfor Motion Pictures (NCOMP), as office lost negotiating power with sorship legislation. movie producers and eventually Faced with mounting political the Legion was renamed in Decemdiscontinued producing its newsletpressure and the possibility of hav- ber 1965.

“Breen would get the script and ter. ing to comply with hundreds of difBut its classifications and movie ferent decency laws, movie studio look at it and say, ‘These lines are reviews continue to be one of the heads worked with Jesuit Father sex-suggestive.’ That was one of his most popular features among CNS Daniel A Lord to develop the 1930 famous phrases,” Mr Dick said. subscribers and still grace the pages production code of standards for What was forbidden? of many Catholic publications and wide-release films, basically as a way The Legion of Decency wasn’t websites. of self-regulating.

“I certainly believe our reviews “But, at first the code was really just concerned about the depiction are relevant today,” Mr Mulderig not being enforced,” said John Mul- of sexually explicit content.

It was also troubled by profanity, said. derig, current assistant director for He said he thinks the reviews are media reviews for Catholic News violence, criminal activity and how religion was sometimes depicted, helpful for “parents of underage Service. kids who want guidance about exIn response, in 1933 the US bish- said Frank Frost, a founder of the US actly what their child will see if they ops established the Legion of De- membership affiliate of the International Catholic Organisation for go to this movie”. cency to directly address the Cinema—now called Signis—and a The reviews are also useful for morality of films being produced by movie critic for NCOMP from 1964 “adult Catholics who specifically the motion picture industry. to 1971. want to avoid certain things”.

“The hope was that if the Legion Gangster films that came out “I think it’s helpful that we’re enwere present and were able to say, during Prohibition—the era when gaging with the film in the overall ‘You’re going to lose a significant alcohol was illegal in the US— assessment of ‘Is this film one that portion of your patronage, that is sometimes depicted murderous upholds Gospel values or contrathe Catholic population are going criminals as heroes, scenarios that A lobby card for the 1931 gangster movie Scarface, one of the films which dicts Gospel values?’,” Mr Mulderig to obey their bishops and stay away could easily prompt a “C” rating, gave rise to the call for censorship of films and the Legion of Decency. said.—CNS from not only bad movies but per- said Mr Mulderig. haps boycott [cinemas] that show Gritty subject matters were not movies that violate the code, then always condemned, however. you’re going to take a hit at the box Leaders at the Legion of Decency The office,’” Mr Mulderig explained. realised there were benefits to hav“That indeed is exactly what ing movie plots depict the seamier in Johannesburg & beyond happened—the bishops managed to part of life where there were eleshow in a very short time that they ments of promiscuity, crime and DStv Audio 870 had command of the faithful,” he immorality—as long as the storysaid. www.radioveritas.co.za line had a redemptive quality to it facebook.com/thescross “The faithful would obey them or provided a price paid for sinful streaming live and not go to certain movies or not lifestyles. Those films didn’t necestwitter.com/ScrossZA even go to a movie theatre for six sarily receive a condemned rating, Catch our interviews with Southern Cross editor months that had shown a film that Mr Mulderig said.

Günther Simmermacher every Friday on 8:30am contravened the production code.

The Legion of Decency would instagram.com/thesoutherncross_ “As soon as that happened, Hol- send out a team of reviewers and 41809 MASS followed by Mass Intention • 41809 VERI followed by comments lywood sat up and took notice— consultants to a preview screening 011 663-4700 info@radioveritas.co.za and this brought on the of each wide-release film, and they enforcement of the production would write their impressions of the code... in a serious way,” Mr Mul- movie. derig said.

A synopsis of the movie, its classification and sometimes the Catholic influence grows reasons why it was given would That financial incentive pro- then be distributed in a newsletter vided the Motion Picture Produc- to subscribers and to the National tion Code—better known as the Catholic Welfare Council news Hays Code after Will Hays, who was service (the precursor to Catholic the president of the Motion Picture News Service), which would disProducers and Distributors of Amer- tribute it to its subscribing ica (MPPDA) at the time—with Catholic newspapers throughout more authority. the world.

Under the direction of Joseph Pledge to boycott Breen, a prominent public relations professional and pious Catholic, the “I grew up really with the Legion MPPDA in 1934 established the Pro- of Decency, because on the first duction Code Administration, re- Sunday after the feast of the Immacquiring all movies to receive a ulate Conception, the priest would certificate of approval before release. ask us all to stand and take the Le-

S outher n C ross

Engage with us online

www.scross.co.za

576 AM

10

The Southern Cross, January 15 to January 21, 2020

WITNESS

Film tells story of love and martyrdom On January 31, a film about a Catholic victim of the Nazis opens in South Africa.

HANNAH BROCKHAUS talked to the actress Valerie Pachner, who plays Blessed Franz Jägerstätter’s wife Franziska in A Hidden Life.

A

NEW film opening in South African cinemas on January 31 tells the story of Bl Franz Jägerstätter, whose refusal to fight for the Nazis in World War II led to

his imprisonment and death.

Jägerstätter was beatified by the Catholic Church in Austria in 2007.

His wife, Franziska, was present at the beatification. She died in 2013 at the age of 100.

The story of the couple, living as peasant farmers in St Radegund in Upper Austria during World War II, is recounted in the film A Hidden Life. The movie is written and directed by the acclaimed Terrence Malick.

The narrative places a strong emphasis on the town and farm where Franz and his family live, showing in detail their daily lives and the work they do with their an-

imals and in the fields and garden.

The strong love between the husband and wife, and in the family, are also closely shown, as they become criticised and ostracised by their neighbours for what is seen as a selfish choice to conscientiously object to fighting in Hitler’s war.

Valerie Pachner, the Austrian actress who plays Franziska in A Hidden Life, said she enjoyed portraying a real person because of the depth it lends the role and because of the responsibility she felt towards the real-life Franziska.

“I identified so strongly with the character. And that was in a way both wonderful and beautiful but also very challenging,” she said.

It was inspiring for her, she explained, “to witness two people who know so well what is right in their hearts and follow that”, even though it means putting their own needs and survival last.

“That was definitely something that impressed me a lot. And trying to get close to that through portraying that character really gave me a certain sense of strength and empowerment,” she said.

“I just felt it’s amazing what human beings are capable of and I found it very wonderful, this approach that they had to that decision. And it really gave me a lot of strength.”

Not always pious

The wedding photo of Fani and Franz Jägerstätter in 1936. After their wedding they made a pilgrimage to Rome to receive a blessing from Pope Pius IX.

A Hidden Life starts in St Radegund in 1939 when Franz is already a strong Catholic. But the real-life man did not start his life with a strong faith.

Franz’s mother, Rosalia Huber, was unmarried when she gave birth to him in 1907. His biological father was killed in World War I. His

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.

ThrEE COuNTriES iN ONE TOur!

For more information or to book contact Gail at

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

www.fowlertours/medju

August Diehl and Valerie Pachner star as Franz and Fani Jägerstätter in the movie A Hidden Life. The film, which opens in South Africa on January 31, tells the story of the couple’s home life and Franz’s martyrdom at the hands of the Nazis in 1943. Austrian actress Pachner said she identified strongly with her character. (Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures) mother later married the man who adopted him, Heinrich Jägerstätter, when he was ten years old.

As a young man, Franz was a womaniser and fathered a daughter out of wedlock. There were periods during which Franz stopped going to Mass.

He became a farmer and met Franziska, whom he married on Holy Thursday in 1936. They then travelled to Rome, where they received the blessing of Pope Pius XI. Through Franziska’s influence, Franz became the sexton of the local church, taking care of the property and grounds and assisting at liturgies. He started attending daily Mass.

The husband and wife had three girls together and also remained close to Franz’s older daughter.

place of fighting. However, his request was refused, and he was taken into custody in Linz for two months, then transferred to the Berlin-Tegel prison.

He was tried on July 6, 1943, and condemned to death for sedition.

He was executed by beheading on August 9, 1943.

Learnt to churn butter

A Hidden Life flashes between Franz in prison and his wife and family at home in St Radegund, as she and her sister take on the full burden of caring for the family farm.

Pachner said she prepared physically for the role, learning how to scythe wheat, churn butter, milk a cow, and other aspects of farm work.

Another part of her preparation Only anti-Nazi in town for playing Franziska was to watch In 1938, Franz was the only one the documentary The Widow of the in his village to vote against the Hero. “It’s very small and it’s very Anschluss, the annexation of Aus- hard to find. I had to go to a booktria by Nazi Germany. store in some kind of monastery or In 1940, a year into World War something to get it,” she said.

II, he was called up for military The documentary has an interservice. The mayor helped him to view with Franziska when she was return home shortly after, but 96 years old.

Franz was again called up Pachner said she “sort for active service from Ocof expected [Franziska] to Franz was be broken, in a way... tober 1940 until April 1941, when the mayor And then I saw it, and condemned to she’s was again able to internot. She’s this old vene for his return home. fragile lady and she’s death for During the time he beaming. And that was was away, Franz and sedition and very important for me, Franziska exchanged letit made me reexecuted by because ters. These and other letalise that even though ters between the husband beheading on she went through all that and wife were published hardship, even after the in English in 2009. war, for decades, that she August 9, Actress Pachner said did not lose trust in the 1943 reading those letters was good of life.” the most important thing Pachner was raised she did to prepare for her Catholic but said she is role as Franziska. no longer practising her faith.

“There’s a lot in those letters.

She said that if she were faced And you feel their love, their faith, with the circumstances which their day-to-day life,” she said.

Franziska underwent, she would The letters also play a major part likely respond differently. throughout the film as they are “I would have been angry, I heard through narrated voice- would have held a grudge against overs. the neighbours; I would have left Franz became convinced that it the village.” was wrong for him to fight and deFranziska “really has to have cided to refuse if he should be something [remarkable] that... she called up again, which happened in never turns bitter”, Pachner February 1943. noted.—CNA He offered to carry out other, n A review of A Hidden Life will run non-violent military service in in next week’s issue.

Retirement Home, Rivonia, Johannesburg Tel:011 803 1451 www.lourdeshouse.org

Frail/assisted care in shared or single rooms.

Independent care in single/double rooms with en-suite bathrooms.

Rates include meals, laundry and 24-hour nursing.

Day Care and short stay facilities also available.

The Southern Cross, January 15 to January 21, 2020

YOUR clASSIFIeDS

Sr Brenda Nestor OP

D

OMINICAN Sister Brenda Nestor, formerly of Johannesburg and Mthatha, died in England on December 21 at the age of 95.

Born in County Mayo, Ireland, on March 20, 1924, she was baptised Anne Mary and grew up in a fun-loving family as one of nine children in a very Catholic home.

Right from school days she was interested in going to Africa, and from a young age her vocation to religious life was nurtured.

Sr Brenda entered the Dominican congregation of Oakford in Chingford, England. She made her first profession there, and her final profession in Oakford, South Africa, on July 10, 1950.

She qualified as a medical and surgical nurse, and midwife, at the Benedictine Hospital in Nongoma, Zululand.

Sr Brenda then served for ten years in the then Dominicanrun Cala Hospital in Mthatha diocese. This took a place of

pride in her memory. It is, she noted, “Mandela’s country”, and some of his relatives were admitted as patients to the hospital.

She worked at Marymount Maternity Hospital in Johannesburg for about 20 years, ten of them as matron.

She was a gifted and intuitive midwife and often recognised complications in a delivery before these presented.

Sr Brenda is credited with “miracles” in the labour ward and saving lives in difficult situations. She introduced the practice of having husbands in labour wards, getting them to help monitor their wives.

She loved the babies she delivered; families brought them back on the occasions of First Communion and confirmation, and in time some went back to Marymount with their own babies.

Sr Brenda initially found it challenging to leave South Africa and return to England.

Then she was again involved in

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

IN MeMORIAM

nursing, and later in visiting people in the parish. At 90 she moved to St Vincent’s Nursing Home in Pinner, London.

Being a good and faithful disciple, Sr Brenda’s ministry continued, this time mostly to her own Dominican Sisters at St Vincent’s. Her mission was “to be patient, to try and understand others, to show Jesus’ goodness to the poor”.

Sr Alison Munro OP

Sr Elfrieda Tebele OP

D

OMINICAN Sister Elfrieda Tebele of Johannesburg died on November 25 at the age of 75.

Born on November 4, 1944, as the 14th child of Annie Klaas and Nivard Tebele, she received her Christian name at baptism from the late Fr Alberic CMM, after his sister, Sr Elfrieda.

The family lived in Mariazell, situated at the foot of the Drakensberg in Matatiele district.

Sr Elfrieda started convent life as a postulant on September 8, 1967. On January 10, 1969, she was received as a novice and given the name Sr Gabriel.

She made her temporary vows exactly a year later, and her final vows on December 29, 1975.

To complete her studies as a nurse, Sr Elfrieda was sent to Glen Grey Hospital from 1972-78. In

1979 she was sent to Mariannhill Hospital to study midwifery.

Sr Elfrieda cared for many patients and helped mothers to give birth in Setalie, Ramanchaane, Woodlands and Marapyana.

She also cared for the elderly Sisters of her congregation in Brakpan and helped at St Mary’s in Rosebank, Johannesburg. In 2013 Sr Elfrieda had to retire due to ill health.

For many years she led the choir with her beautiful voice.

She made good use of this gift, she had inherited from her father. She loved to dance when Sr Helga played the accordion.

Sr Elfrieda had the gift of making friends easily. Her huge smile was contagious.

But after her fall and increasing pain in her leg, she became

BRAAF—Eugene David.

Died 21/01/2010. In loving memory of a dear husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather and great-grandfather. Time Passes; Memories Stay; Loved and Remembered Every Day. Your absence is Silent Grief and your Life a Beautiful Memory. We miss you so much. Will always be remembered and loved by his family Daphne, Eugenie, Michael, Noleen, Ryan, Andrea, Eli, Wayne, Lucretia, Tehillah, Carol and Amy Leigh. May your dear soul rest in peace.

PRAYeRS

ReMeMBeR, O MOSt lOVING VIRGIN MARY, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, we turn to you, O Virgins of virgins, our Mother. To you we come, before you we stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, do not

S outhern C ross www.scross.co.za

Priest: From crack addict to ordination

Page 4

Reg No. 1920/002058/06 No 5017

Perrier: Behold the flower, and thank God for it

Page 7

R8,00 (incl VAT RSA)

When the Holy Family came to Africa

Page 10

Second Daswa feast on Feb 1 STAFF REPORTER

quiet and hidden within herself.

On November 22, she was moved to Park Care to receive the care she needed, where she died three days later.

When her baby brother Luca was baptised in Holy Trinity church in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, four-year-old Gabriella Pereira proved to be a great “volunteer server” to Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, with whom she prays in this picture. (Photo: Devin Lester Photography)

OUTHERN Africa’s faithful have been urged to celebrate the second feast of Bl Benedict Daswa with a special liturgy, prayers and a novena, while a programme of events will take place in the martyr’s home diocese of Tzaneen.

Bl Daswa became the first South African to be beatified, the final step before canonical recognition of sainthood, in September 2015.

He was martyred by a mob near Thohoyandou, in what is now Limpopo, for refusing to participate in a witch-hunt.

“We encourage all dioceses and parishes throughout South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland to celebrate this feast using the proper liturgical texts approved by the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome,” said Sr Claudette Hiosan FDNSC, the promoter of Bl Daswa’s sainthood cause.

The approved liturgy is available from the official Benedict Daswa website (www.bene dictdaswa.org.za).

“Visitors to the diocese of Tzaneen wishing to celebrate the feast in the parish of Thohoyandou will have the opportunity of visiting sites associated with the life and martyrdom of Bl Benedict,” Sr Hiosan said.

On the day before the feast, January 31, the faithful are invited to spend a period of silent adoration, prayer and reflection in the church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Nweli, the church Bl Daswa helped build and where his remains are kept.

From 15:00 to 18:00 there will be adoration of the exposed sacrament. Priests will be available for confession.

It will “be a time of grace, reconciliation and healing close to the place where the mortal remains of Bl Benedict Daswa rest,” the programme for the feast notes.

“Before entering the church, all will receive a short, personal message [by Bl Daswa], inviting them to live more deeply the Gospel call of loving kindness and mercy,” it says.

“This atmosphere of prayerful silence will offer all the opportunity of listening to Jesus speaking in their hearts, and of having a heart-to-heart chat with him about their lives, hopes, fears, deep longings and needs,” the programme says.

Exposition will close with benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

The church will remain open afterwards for those who wish to spend more time there.

Bl Benedict Daswa pictured in December 1989, less than two months before his martyrdom. His feast day is on February 1.

The celebrations of the feast of Bl Daswa, February 1, will be held at Tshitanini village, where the beatification took place in 2015, and where the future shrine and pilgrimage centre will be located.

From 7:00 there will be veneration of the relics of Bl Daswa during which priests will be available for the sacrament of reconciliation.

The feast’s Mass will be celebrated at 9:00, followed by veneration of the relics until noon.

A novena began on January 23, to end on the 31st. The faithful are urged “to perform three acts of kindness each day of the novena in remembrance of the three acts of charity which Bl Benedict performed the day he was martyred”.

Sr Hiosan encouraged the faithful “to pray earnestly through the intercession of Bl Benedict for the graces and favours they need from God”.

“An ever-widening circle of prayer will be the most powerful means of begging God to grant the miracle required for Bl Benedict to be proclaimed a saint of the Universal Church,” she said.

See page 11 for your cut-out-and-keep prayer for the canonisation of Bl Benedict Daswa.

wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. God does nothing in vain. He knows what he is about. John Henry Newman

PeRSONAl

ABORtION WARNING: The truth will convict a silent Church. See www.valuelifeabortion isevil.co.za ABORtION WARNING: The Pill can abort. All Catholic users (married or cohabiting) must be told, to save their souls and their unborn infants. See www.epm.org/static/ uploads/downloads/ bcpill.pdf

HOlIDAY AccOMMODAtION

MARIANellA Guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of God with us.” Fully equipped, with amazing sea views. Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy.

Malcolm Salida 082 784 5675, mjsalida@gmail.com

SOLUTIONS TO 898. ACROSS: 3 Next of kin, 8 Urns, 9 Successor, 10 Jairus, 11 Steep, 14 Cloth, 15 Rain, 16 India, 18 Eden, 20 Dance, 21 Satin, 24 Profit, 25 Christian, 26 Mini, 27 Forgeries. DOWN: 1 Subjected, 2 Antidotes, 4 Emus, 5 Tacit, 6 Foster, 7 Icon, 9 Sushi, 11 Sidon, 12 Pain of sin, 13 Uncertain, 17 Adorn, 19 Naming, 22 Inter, 23 Theo, 24 Page.

Our bishops’ anniversaries

Second feast of Bl Benedict Daswa

This week we congratulate: January 22: Bishop Fritz Lobinger, retired of Aliwal North, on his 91st birthday January 25: Bishop Victor Phalana of Klerksdorp on the 5th anniversary of his episcopal ordination

PE celebrates cathedral’s jubilee

Freeman: People still believe in God Despite reports of church attendance falling across denominations and low percentages for believers worshipping across the globe, belief in God remains strong, said actor Morgan Freeman, the narrator of a documentary series The Story of God.

Finding pastoral solutions In his editorial on Pope Francis’ approach on divorced and civilly remarried Catholics in Amoris Laetitia, Günther Simmermacher notes that every Church law requires a pastoral application, especially if a doctrine is creating pastoral concerns.

holy, a source of personal growth in holiness, if accepted in a spirit of dedication and sacrifice.

The world of work, the economy, does not fulfil its function because of unemployment, dishonesty, bad business practices, greed and the old “curse”!

Workaholics should consult Mark 8:36, warning them against “winning” the whole world but losing their soul. n Read more articles by Fr Pierre Goldie at www.scross.co.za/category/perspec tives/fr-pierre-goldie/

Southern CrossWord solutions

The celebrations of the second feast day of Bl Daswa, on February 1, will be held at Tshitanini village, where the beatification took place in 2015, and where the future shrine and pilgrimage centre will be located. Southern Africa’s faithful have been urged to celebrate the feast with a special liturgy, prayers and a novena. The Southern Cross features an illustrated Daswa prayer.

Port Elizabeth’s cathedral is marking the final few months of celebrating the 150th anniversary of its consecration. The jubilee year of events, which began in April 2016, will close on April 23.

S

MAY All I DO today begin with you, O Lord.

Plant dreams and hopes within my soul, revive my tired spirit: be with me today. May all I do today continue with your help, O Lord. Be at my side and walk with me: be my support today. May all I do today reach far and wide, O Lord. My thoughts, my work, my life: make them blessings for your kingdom; let them go beyond today.

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

Today God's everyday grace falls on my soul like abundant seed, though I may hardly see it. Today is one of those days Jesus promised to be with me, a companion on my journey, and my life today, if I trust him, has consequences unseen. My life has a purpose. I have a mission. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. God has not created me for naught. Therefore I will trust him. Whatever,

Continued from page 7 worked for a long period in employment before becoming a priest. The parable of workers being called into the vineyard at different times was used as the Gospel reading (Mt 20:1-16).

This seems to reflect scant attention to his work in the secular world and his contribution to society as a working person; surely too, a means of personal sanctification?

Jesus is the true master of the world of work, secular or otherwise. Work is

3 Years Ago: January 25, 2017

The

despise our petitions, but in your mercy hear us and answer us. Amen.

Why Jesus is your Boss

FROM OUR VAULTS

January 25 to January 31, 2017

11

Liturgical Calendar Year A – Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday January 19, 2nd Sunday of the Year Isaiah 49:3, 5-6, Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-10, 1 Corinthians 1:1-3, John 1:29-34 Monday January 20 Bl Cyprian M Tansi and Ss Fabian and Sebastian 1 Samuel 15:16-23, Psalm 50:8-9, 1617, 21, 23, Mark 2:18-22 Tuesday January 21, St Agnes 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 89:20-22, 2728, Mark 2:23-28 Wednesday January 22, St Vincent 1 Samuel 17:32-33, 37, 40-51, Psalm 144:1-2, 9-10, Mark3:1-6

Thursday January 23 1 Samuel 18:6-9; 19:1-7, Psalm 56:2-3, 9-13, Mark 3:7-12 Friday January 24, St Francis de Sales 1 Samuel 24:2-20 (3-21), Psalm 57:2-4, 6, 11, Mark 3:13-19 Saturday January 25, Conversion of St Paul Acts 22:3-16, Psalm 117:1-2, Mark 16:15-18 Sunday January 26, 3rd Sunday of the Year Isaiah 8:1-4 (8, 23--9:3), Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14, 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17, Matthew 4:12-23

The Southern Cross is published independently by the catholic Newspaper & Publishing company ltd.

Address: 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town Postal Address: PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000 tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850

Website: www.scross.co.za Facebook: www.facebook.com/thescross twitter: twitter.com/ScrossZA Instagram: instagram.com/thesoutherncross_ Digital edition: www.digital.scross.co.za Subscription Rates: Digital R420 pa and Print by Mail R550 pa

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

Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect those of the editor, staff or directors of The Southern Cross.

The Southern Cross is a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations of South Africa.

Printed by Paarl Coldset (Pty) Ltd, 10 Freedom Way, Milnerton. Published by the proprietors, The Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Co Ltd, at the company’s registered office, 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town, 8001.

the

3rd Sunday: January 26 Readings: Isaiah 9:1-4, Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14, 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17, Matthew 4:12-23

C

AN we really trust God? Put like that, the question is barely worth considering; but deep down we often find ourselves asking it; and we need the light that shines in the darkness.

The first reading is quite joyfully clear that God is indeed to be trusted; and we go all the way up to “Zebulun and Naphtali”, two tribes in the far north of the Holy Land, and “Galilee of the Gentiles”.

Then comes that cheerful line, which you may remember from Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, all that time ago: “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who lived in the valley of the shadow of death…you have smashed the yoke…as on the day of Midian.”

There is joyful trust here.

The psalm also picks up the theme of light: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; of whom shall I be afraid?”

There is absolutely no doubt here of the poet’s ability to trust the Lord; and, deeper, there is his sense of longing for God: “There is one thing that I ask for from the Lord, this is what I am seeking, that I should live in the Lord’s house, all the days of my life.”

That longing is something that we all

S outher n C ross

share, though we do not always recognise it; and that is why, at the deepest level of our being, we know that we really can trust God, as we identify our longing “to gaze on the Lord’s beauty, to visit his Temple”.

Then it concludes, beautifully, “I trust I shall enjoy the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living”, and continues with a heartening encouragement, “Wait for the Lord, be strong of heart—wait for the Lord”.

The trust here is quite unshakable.

In the second reading, Paul begs his Corinthians to restore unity in their divided Church. He does not hesitate to share his trust in God: “I am begging you, brothers and sisters, through the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And what is his request (or command, if we are honest!)? It is that “you should all say the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you”.

He wants them to be “articulated in the same mind and the same opinion”; and the reason is that “Chloe’s people” have informed him about divisions and quarrelling in Corinth, so they are all walking round with placards saying “Viva Paul!”, “Viva Apollos!” and “Viva Kephas!”; but Paul’s obsession is

W

bol for malevolence, temptation, and lack of moral strength, the encounters the saints describe happen to us too in our rational, agnostic lives just as surely as they happened to pious believers in former times.

Satan, scripture tells us, is the prince of jealousy, bitterness, paranoia, obsession, and lies. Few things in life torment us and beat us up as badly as these. They lurk in every dark corner, come out from under our beds at night, generally threaten us, darken our days, dampen our joys, and make us anxious as to what might lie around the corner. We just word things differently.

We speak of being “obsessed”, while the saints speak of being “possessed”. It’s just a difference of words.

Satan—however we choose to conceive of that power—is harassing us all the time, and we, like the saints of old, need to learn the mantra: “Get behind me, Satan!”

W

Conrad

here are we harassed and beaten up

by Satan? Here are some everyday examples: Every time our minds and hearts begin bitterly replaying, like cassette tapes, old conversations, old wounds, old rejections, and old injustices, so that everything inside of us wants to scream: “This isn’t fair!” “How dare he say that!” “How can she do that, after all I did for her!” “I hate those people!” “Why do I always get cheated?”

At those times we are being tormented

by Satan and need to say: “Get behind me,

P O Box 379 Cape Town 8000 Tel 021 465 5904 Fax 086 671 7917

Books, repository, vestments, gifts, and much more.

Mail orders accepted.

ww.catholicbookshop.co.za • custserv.cbs@mweb.co.za

Street address: The Grimley, 14 Tuin Plein (off Hope Street) Cape Town

Sunday Reflections

with his beloved Lord: “I belong to Christ”, he says, and reminds them that “Christ is not divided”; they are further reminded that it was not Paul who was crucified for them, and they were not baptised in the name of Paul.

His task, and this needs immense trust on his part, is to “preach the good news, not in clever language; otherwise Christ’s cross might be voided”.

There is no doubt here about Paul’s trust in God and in Jesus.

The Gospel for next Sunday depicts the start of Jesus’ ministry; and there can be absolutely no doubt about his trust in God. It starts with the betrayal of John the Baptist, and Jesus retiring to Galilee; but this is not self-preservation, since he moves from the relative quiet of Nazara to the far busier port of Capharnaum, where two trade routes cross.

As always with Matthew, there is the insistence that what Jesus does necessarily fulfils prophecy (you can trust God, you see), with the quotation from our first reading about “Zebulun and Naphtali”.

Then, with absolute confidence, Jesus starts his ministry of preaching: “Repent—for the Kingdom of the Heavens has drawn near.”

‘Get behind me, Satan!’

HEN you read the lives of the saints, especially in older books, you can get the impression that they lived in a different world.

Many of them describe physical encounters with Satan within which they would, literally, get beaten up by him.

Satan, it seemed, was forever lurking under a bed, in a basement, in a stairwell, or in some dark corner, just waiting to pounce on them and beat them up.

They had to be careful not to venture naively into dark places; though, conversely, there were times when they readied themselves and went deliberately to the desert to openly do battle with him.

And, in that fight, they had a great weapon, simple one-line mantras: “Get behind me, Satan!” or “Satan, leave this room!” or “Satan, leave me alone!”

That brought guaranteed results. He left them in peace for a while, though they emerged somewhat scraped and bruised from the encounter.

Such language sounds pretty esoteric and even superstitious to us. Not many of us have ever had Satan pop up from under our beds or from some dark place and begin to beat us up. Or have we?

Who or what is Satan? Believers today are split as to whether or not they believe that Satan is an actual person or simply a symbol for a venomous power that can overwhelm you, strip you of moral strength, and leave you precisely with the feeling of having been beaten up.

Either way, whether we believe that Satan is an actual person or simply a sym-

Nicholas King SJ

We can truly trust God

There are two more stages, both showing immense trust in God. The first is the extraordinary story of the calling of the two sets of brothers: “Simon called Rock, and his brother Andrew”, whom Jesus addresses with great confidence, and even a bit of a joke about their profession: “I am going to make you fishers for human beings!”

The second pair of brothers are the sons of Zebedee (we are not told who Zebedee is—we are expected to know). But we must simply note, with complete astonishment, the confidence with which these brothers rose to the challenge “They abandoned their nets and followed him…they left the boat (and their father!) and followed him.”

Finally, and again with absolute trust in God, equipped now with all of four followers, Jesus starts his mission: “He was going round in the whole of the Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom, and curing every sickness and every illness among the people.”

We might, this week, pray to share this trust in God.

Southern Crossword #898

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

Satan!” There will be no joy, goodness, or moral strength in our lives until those obsessions leave us alone.

Every time we feel a deep emptiness inside and our world feels flat and without meaning because we are obsessed with someone or something we can’t have, we need to pray: “Get behind me, Satan!”

Heartaches, especially over frustrated love, might speak of romance, but they also bespeak Satan in that they drain the joy out of life and deaden all our manageable loves.

Satan doesn’t come at us like a demon with a pitchfork, standing before fire and smoke; he torments us in a frustrated, pathologically restless, romantic fantasy that has us in near-suicidal depression and comes upon us in dark stairwells, at parties, and right within our own beds.

Every time we feel pangs of jealousy— not necessarily overtly directed against someone else’s good fortune but in the disappointment that we feel because our bodies, marriages, careers, and even our morals haven’t turned out as perfectly as we’d have liked—and whenever we find it hard to be grateful for our own lives, we are being beaten up by Satan and need to say: “Get behind me, Satan!”

Indeed, any time we have trouble falling asleep at night because some memory, some disappointment, some lost love, some wrong-turn taken, or some obsession won’t let go and give us enough calm to sleep, Satan is harassing us, right in our own beds, and we need, like the saints of old, to say: “Get behind me, Satan!”

Satan is alive and well, still tormenting us in our beds, in rooms, in dark stairwells, and in broad daylight as we travel to work.

We call his presence: obsessions, heartaches, restlessness, jealousy, emptiness, fear, paranoia, old hurts, insomnia, chaos, and other names.

Like the saints of old, we need at times when we feel strong enough to wrestle with him openly in the desert, but we need too, whenever our fears and obsessions begin to beat us up, to say the ancient prayer: “Get behind me, Satan!”

ACrOSS

3. Your closest family member (4,2,3) 8. Runs around the large vases (4) 9. The next pope? (9) 10. Jesus healed his daughter (Lk 8) (6) 11. Why climbing the sacred mountain is expensive? (5) 14. Fabric for the clergy (5) 15. It floated Noah’s ark (4) 16. Land of the Hindus (5) 18. Led enquiries inside the garden (4) 20. David performed it before the Lord (2 Sm 6) (5) 21. Material saint changed into (5) 24. Gain made by holy man, it’s said (6) 25. Your baptismal name (9) 26. Skirt the car (4) 27. Sore grief due to fraudulent relics (9) Solutions on page 11

DOwN

1. Brought under control (9) 2. I set to and arrange the counter-poisons (9) 4. Adoremus holds flightless birds at last (4) 5. Implied I am in diplomacy (5) 6. Softer way to bring up the child (6) 7. Image on bent coin (4) 9. Dish for a Japanese cleric? (5) 11. Town from which people came to Jesus (Lk 6) (5) 12. Uncomfortable penalty for breaking the Commandment (4,2,3) 13. Be doubtful about one’s beliefs (9) 17. Decorate the altar (5) 19. Christening the baby (6) 22. It precedes national to become worldwide (5) 23. The man who heads theology (4) 24. Errand boy from the book (4)

CHURCH CHUCKLE

D

ear old Mrs Daniels was on the brink of death but miraculously survived.

As she recovered, the parish priest came to visit her in hospital and asked: “Tell me, Mrs Daniels, as you approached death’s door, were you afraid to meet your Maker?”

“Oh no, Father,” Mrs Daniels replied. “It was the other guy I was afraid of!”

Buy the church chuckles book.

Only R180. For details, see ad on page 1

Sacred Heart Pilgrimage

FRANCE & ROME with Paray-le-Monial lourdes - Nevers - Paris

Led by Fr Lawrence Mdudzi Ndlovu 12 - 23 October 2020

For more information please contact Gail info@fowlertours.co.za or 076 352-3809

www.fowlertours.co.za/sacred-heart

For all your Sand and Stone requirements in Piet retief, Southern Mpumalanga

Tel: 017 826 0054/5 Cell: 082 904 7840 Email: sales@eskaycrushers.co.za