The
S outher n C ross
April 29 to May 5, 2020
Reg No. 1920/002058/06
No 5184
Pope writes new prayer on Covid-19
Page 5
www.scross.co.za
R12 (incl VAT RSA)
A visit to St John Vianney Seminary
Priest’s journey from Nkandla to France
Page 10
May 3 is Vocations Sunday See the panel adverts and our features inside! What is God’s call to you?
Centenary Jubilee Year
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Ngome priest: Mary didn’t appear to me STAFF REPORTER
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Two learners of Holy Rosary College in Edenvale, Johannesburg, pray with their school community during their remote learning in the time of the coronavirus lockdown. See page 8 for more photos of Catholic school leaners going about getting their education while at home.
HE rector of Ngome shrine in KwaZuluNatal has slammed fake news which claim that he had a Marian apparition. “The message being spread on various social media platforms concerning the Divine Mercy prayer, supposedly from me is not true,” Oblate Father Wayne Weldschidt said in a statement. The widely circulated message read verbatim: “Our Lady appeared to Fr. Wayne of Ngome @11am today (Wed 22 April 2020) & She has asked everyone to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy ‘every day’ @3pm. We must pray to end this virus. She says it is going to end through this prayer.” Fr Weldschidt said that he has “no idea” of the message’s origin or objective. He has asked the faithful not to respond or spread “this false message”. “Instead, I think we should be very clear about the importance and necessity of daily prayer during this very difficult time in the history of human community,” he said. “Please be inspired to pray deeply and sincerely, as I’m sure that so many of us have more time for prayer and reflection,” the priest advised. He asked the faithful to keep praying daily for “God’s mercy upon the world”. Fr Weldschidt also encouraged the daily prayer of the Divine Mercy rosary chaplet at 15:00, “since that is the request of the Lord to Sr Faustina”. The Divine Mercy chaplet is based on the apparitions of Jesus reported by St Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun who lived from 190538. The chaplet is recited using ordinary rosary beads of five decades. It is preceded by two opening prayers from the diary of St Faustina and followed by a closing prayer. (Click here for full instructions). The Ngome shrine, in Eshowe diocese, is
Fr Wayne Weldschidt OMI, rector of Ngome shrine, has denied social media rumours that the Blessed Virgin appeared to him. based on ten apparitions by the Blessed Virgin reported by Benedictine Sister Reinolda May from 1955-71. Devotion to the apparitions was approved by the late Bishop Mansuet Biyase in 1984. In October 1992 Bishop Biyase declared Ngome a “Place of Prayer”, but it has had visits from devout pilgrims since 1961. (For more, see www.scross.co.za/2018/09/the-sainthood-of-sr-reinolda-may/ or click here). The process of the sainthood cause for Sr Reinolda, who died on April 1, 1981 at the age of 79 was unanimously approved in 2018 by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
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