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June 3 to June 9, 2020
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One diocese’s plan to reopen for Mass by July
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Why print still is worth its paper
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Centenary Jubilee Year
Priest: How to be Church in ‘new normal’
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Churches may reopen – but won’t just yet BY ERIN CARELSE
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IOCESES around the country are now making plans to reopen churches, but agree that the right time for that is not just yet. The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s May 26 statement that religious services would be permitted to resume under Level 3 lockdown as of June 1, but the conference has no authority to impose a national policy for the dioceses in the Southern African Church. The decisions of when and how to reopen is up to individual dioceses. Religious leaders have been recognised as essential workers for the purpose of spiritual counselling and leading worship. “The importance of opening the churches will assist our people, many of whom have experienced emotional and spiritual distress during the lockdown,” said SACBC spokesman Archbishop William Slattery, retired of Pretoria, in a statement. “People have felt abandoned by the Church community in their moment of grave need. The stress of feeling isolated leaves the individual with a weakened immunity. A sense of deep depression due to spiritual longing is also a suffering and a disease.” The SACBC fully endorsed the precautionary measures to avoid infections, and counselled that should individual communities represented by their priests and parish councils feel unable to meet these precautions, they must keep the churches closed. “Our churches must avoid every risk which might expose worshippers to infection,” Archbishop Slattery said. South Africa’s most populous archdiocese, Johannesburg, will not be opening its church doors immediately, Archbishop Buti Tlhagale said in a statement. “All our churches and buildings must be ‘safe places’ and the parish priest must take responsibility on behalf of his parish to en-
sure that the [safety] recommendations are met,” he said. The dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass remains in effect for those who feel uncomfortable or unable to return once churches can reopen. At that point, because of the restrictions on the numbers of people who may gather, those who can’t attend Sunday Mass may fulfil their obligation by attending a weekday Mass. Archbishop Tlhagale said that the reception of Communion under one species would continue as was the case just before the lockdown, with no kneeling at the altar rail, social distancing provisions, and reception only in the hand. He added that priests would not wear gloves for the distribution, as hand sanitizer is effective against the virus. “It must be made clear that attending the celebration of Mass in a church is a decision each person must make without risking themselves and others.” Those at high-risk should be encouraged to be cautious and are advised to stay at home, Archbishop Tlhagale said. Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban in a letter to his archdiocese wrote that President Ramaphosa’s announcement had taken the Church by complete surprise, saying Church leaders had asked only to be included in consultation processes. The day before the announcement, the cardinal had called for churches either to be allowed to open or for the government to offer relief funding to help religious leaders. Speaking on behalf of the KwaZulu-Natal Christian Council, Cardinal Napier said he could not understand why factories, schools and businesses were allowed to operate, while churches had to remain closed. “We need to have some kind of explanation as to why are we not allowed to operate,” he said. Addressing his archdiocese, Cardinal Napier acknowledged that “none of us knows Continued on page 3
Pope Francis prays at the replica of the Lourdes grotto in the Vatican Gardens during a Marian prayer service on Saturday. He asked the Virgin Mary to intercede for an end to “this terrible [Covid-19] pandemic”. More than 50 Marian shrines around the world were connected by satellite. These included Lourdes in France, Fatima in Portugal, Luján in Argentina, Knock in Ireland, Guadalupe in Mexico, Aparecida in Brazil, Częstochowa in Poland, Loreto in Italy, Walsingham in England, the basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Elele in Nigeria, and Notre-Dame de la Paix in Ivory Coast. CLICK HERE to see the video. See page 4 for report. (Photo: Vatican Media/CNS)
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iD you know that The Southern Cross is entirely independent and unsubsidised, surviving on revenue from sales and advertising — and the kind support of our readers? The Southern Cross has survived for nearly 100 years on strength of tight financial management and the great sacrifices by its small, loyal staff. But now the survival of our only national Catholic weekly is in great danger. The closure of our churches in the national lockdown has robbed us of our main source of income: sales at the church door.
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The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2020
LOCAL
J&P wants to help give out more food parcels BY ERIN CARELSE
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HE bishops’ Justice & Peace Commission (J&P) is negotiating with the United Nations to explore possibilities for a second phase of its food relief initiative. This comes after J&P in partnership with United Nations Women in South Africa distributed food items to Winterveldt, a poor village in northern Pretoria, as part of the Covid-19 food relief initiative. The purpose of the outreach was to donate food parcels to 160 poor people. Among those were 30 women from the Mercy Sisters’ Thusanang Primary Healthcare Centre, which helps poor women with sustainable projects. Established in 1987, Thusanang started with nine women from the Winterveldt area, mainly South Africans. But with high migration, the centre now caters for women from neighbouring countries. Maria Sikhomba, a coordinator and a founder of the centre, said Thusanang was established to instruct women in gardening and help
poor women with food parcels. It now has seven serving points in the village where nominated beneficiaries come to receive food parcels and other basic needs. “The centre used to organise food parcels every month, but due to lack of resources, now they are able to organise distribution only once every two months,” Ms Sikhomba explained. Though the number of poor women in the area is increasing daily, Thusanang can afford to serve only 750 beneficiaries. The centre also helps the sick and connects them with nearby clinics, and facilitates social grants and birth documents for orphaned children. “The greatest challenge we are facing in the gardening project is the scarcity of water. Another challenge is lack of seeds for the gardens,” Ms Sikhomba said. There are 170 women in the gardening project. A beneficiary of the food parcels, Ms Thokwane, said she is very happy that she will be able to eat together with her children and family.
Fr Lawrence Moatshe, who is chaplain of the Justice & Peace Commission in Pretoria, has been at the forefront of providing food relief to the poor in his archdiocese.
“Today is the day of happiness in our home. There is no one working in the family. We struggle every day to get something to eat. The food parcels we have received today will sustain us for some time,” she said. Another beneficiary, from Zimbabwe, said her husband is a vendor in Tshwane, but since lockdown, they have been struggling. Even spaza shops are no longer giving credit because nobody in the family is working. They have been going to bed on empty stomachs. She said she is thankful to God
for people who have brought them food parcels: “I am happy my children today will eat and run around and be like my children I know.” Fr Patrick Rakeketsi CSS, associate secretary-general of the SACBC, was part of the team of people who donated food parcels. He encouraged the Mercy Sisters and his fellow Stigmatines, who are all working in the area, to continue a long culture of cooperating to address challenges, and thanked them for their good work in Winterveldt. Fr Rakeketsi praised the partner-
ship of the J&P and United Nations Women for helping the needy. Fr Sylvester Motlhokoa CSS, a parish priests in the area, closed the event with a thanksgiving prayer. Commenting on the project, Bishop Victor Phalana, chair of J&P, said the ministry is “a sign that God is here, God is present”. “It is a privilege for us to serve them, to show them God has not forgotten them. To show them that through us, God is able to extend his hand and touch them and bless them,” said the bishop of Klerksdorp, who as a priest served in Pretoria. “It is not us blessing them. It is God blessing them through us. That is what motivates us every week to go out to these communities to respond to the cries of the poor, the marginalised, the ‘nobodies’ of this world,” he said. “We respect their humanity. We respect their dignity. And we treat them with care and with love because we are not coming as people who are better than them. We are their servants,” Bishop Phalana said.
SA couple to join global marriage summit STAFF REPORTER
T South African couple Christo and Marie-Anne TeBrake of Theology of the Body will be participating in the online international Catholic Marriage Summit 2020.
STAFF REPORTER
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EACTION by laity to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement last week was mixed, with a sense of caution outweighing unqualified welcome. Here are some of the voices from the Southern Cross Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/the scross/ and the popular #ImStayingCatholic groups. Clint Newkirk was straightforward: “Nothing wonderful about this [announcement]. Pray at home.” Gail McKeith agreed: “We are the church...we have it in our heart always.” Ntokozo Majola said: “I hope priests and parishioners will be able to exercise discretion on whether to resume Mass or not.” Debrah Motopheng said she was excited about returning to Mass, but
HE international Catholic Marriage Summit 2020 from June 11-13 will have a South African presence, with Christo and MarieAnne TeBrake of the Theology of the Body being among more than 50 speakers from around the world. The event, which will be held online, is staged by the US-based Joyful Ever After ministry. “The summit brings together the world’s most trusted and inspirational voices to speak on the beauty (and the messiness) of marriage,”
the Joyful Ever After website says. It “will show you how to get the marriage you want out of the marriage you have”. The event features 50-plus Catholic marriage experts over three days. Topics will include “content exclusively for couples, and men and women individually”, the site says. The summit will be an opportunity to connect with other married couples from around the world. The event is free, but there is an “all access” option at US $49. The Catholic Marriage Summit is the inaugural event for Joyful Ever
Laity cautious on opening churches counselled: “I hope parishioners will be very considerate for our priests.” She said people have become used to 30-minute Masses on Radio Veritas and suggested to “keep the momentum as a number of Masses might increase”. Calling for discipline, she said “this is the time to listen to the priest’s proposed plans”. Patricia Dourans wrote: “This is a logistical nightmare. How are priests to enforce the hygiene protocols and control the limitation of 50? It’s prudent to continue as currently with live broadcasts.” However, Bronwyn Curtis responded: “It’s only a logistical nightmare if the priest is expected to do all the work and logic is not
applied. Parishioners need to help with counting numbers, sanitising at entrances and sanitising after. “Our parish did this before Level 5 lockdown when numbers had been restricted to 100. It worked. People who would like to go to Mass can [do so], and those who prefer to watch at home can do that too.” Kagiso Sedumedi urged caution: “People must be very careful. No one guarantees your safety. I will stick to Zoom” livestreamed Masses. Edith Bezuidenhout likewise said that she would attend church only “when all is clear”. For now, “I praise Him from my heart.” Some said they would not return until a vaccine becomes widely avail-
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able because of underlying health issues, such as asthma, or because they are in a vulnerable age group. Elizabeth Oberholzer suggested: “It would probably be more prudent, specially for the aged, to choose a weekday Mass to attend until the worst is over at least.” Magda Kus expressed concern for celebrants: “At a Mass, the person exposed most to the virus is the priest offering it (when distributing Communion). We need to be sure we’re doing it right. If he succumbs, even if ‘only’ to the extent of needing to be hospitalised, we’re back to square one... and we won’t even be able to see him on online Mass.” Francis Mnyele offered a solu-
After, a non-profit Catholic ministry founded by marriage activists Damon and Melanie Owens dedicated to renewing and transforming Christian marriages. Joyful Ever After is part of Joy To Be, headed by Damon Owens, an international speaker and evangelist. Joy To Be promotes the Theology of the Body, which is based on a series of 129 short talks Pope John Paul II gave from September 1979 to November 1984. n To register for the Catholic Marriage Summit, go to www.joyfulever after.org/a/27520/hp6LpKWe
tion: “If we cannot afford to sanitise our Church buildings, there is no law preventing outdoor Masses. They are doing it in some places already and it seems a lot safer than indoors, with all the masks and sanitisers and distancing included. South Africa is blessed with warm weather even in winter.” He noted a story he read “where people bring their saucers to Mass. Then they in their turn place their saucers at the steps of the Church building and Father deposits the Communion [host] in there” Sibongile Tshabalala wrote: “I’m also happy [about President Ramaphosa’s announcement] but worried about social distancing.” She echoed the need for parishioners to cooperate in a time that “won’t be the same” as it was. “Pray for our priest and our Church leadership.”
Another church burgled and vandalised BY ERIN CARELSE
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CATHOLIC church in Rustenburg diocese was burgled and vandalised— but the Blessed Sacrament was safely with the parish priest. St Cecilia church in Ikageleng township, a few kilometres outside Zeerust, was broken into and vandalised in the early hours of the morning of May 27. Fr Kenneth Moteane learned of the crime when a distressed community leader called to inform him of the break-in. “The thief gained entry by breaking a window. He must have cut himself during the process, because there was blood all over the window and the wall next to the window,” Fr Moteane said. Items stolen from St Cecilia church include sacred vessels— the chalice and ciborium, the
altar crucifix, and the processional cross. The burglar also stripped the electrical wiring from the walls, removed the light bulbs, vandalised the big crucifix on the wall, and broke open the tabernacle. Thankfully Fr Moteane had already removed the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle at the beginning of the lockdown and kept it at the main parish in town where he resides for safety purposes. “The suspicion is that it’s a drug addict who was looking for a quick fix,” the priest said. “There are witnesses who saw the suspect jumping the fence, carrying big plastic bags,” he added. “The community is all saddened by the incident, but the matter is in the hands of the police, and we await the outcome of it all.”
St Cecilia’s church in Ikageleng township in Rustenburg diocese was broken into. Sacred objects were stolen and the church was vandalised.
LOCAL
The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9 2020
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Bishop: How we’ll open for Mass by July 5 BY ERIN CARELSE
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ISHOP Victor Phalana of Klerksdorp has put a week-byweek plan in place for parishes to prepare and make sure the necessary protocols have been followed to allow for reopening on July 5. The opening of churches has serious implications and this is something the bishop said he does not take lightly. He is concerned that the number of new infections in the diocese and province is rising despite North-West doing better than other provinces. “I know that many people in our diocese cannot wait any longer. They would like to worship and to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. It is not easy at all,” Bishop Phalana said. “We have to make a reasonable effort to ensure the safety of all. Safety first and compliance with health regulations—there is no need to rush,” he said. The bishop warned against panic that “causes a ‘tunnel vision’, which is terrible for decision-making”. Addressing his priests and the faithful, he said: “I have a duty to encourage you not to succumb to the cultural climate of fear, anxiety and self-preservation.” Nonetheless, parishioners must be taught to obsessively maintain a scrupulous hygienic routine to avoid infecting others.
Bishop Victor Phalana of Klerksdorp has laid out a staged plan for reopening churches in the diocese. (Photo: Mathibela Sebothoma) Bishop Phalana rejected the notion that there should be no services until South Africa reaches Level 1. “No service until 2021? I do not agree with this. The people of God need the service of the Church during the pandemic more than at any other time,” he said. “We agreed with government to shut our churches as a way of mitigating the spread of the virus. For 60 days we cooperated and we contributed in this effort. I suspect that if we did not do that, we could be facing thousands of deaths,” the
bishop noted. “Through lockdown Levels 5 and 4, we contributed to the slowing of the spread of the virus in our communities,” he said.
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ishop Phalana outlined the various things that need to take place each week in preparation for the reopening on July 5. In the first week of June, priests and pastoral councils are to study the statement from the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the regulations for churches
from the South African Council of Churches, and the bishop’s previous pastoral letter. They should then start their own reflection with lay leaders in their parishes. They are encouraged to invite doctors, nurses and health experts to be part of their reflection and allow them to give advice. Bishop Phalana will also meet with the diocesan Covid-19 relief team to study the regulations and come up with strategies for implementation. He will look at the safety materials at the diocese’s disposal and see how much it has received in donations to help parishes reopen. In the second week, the bishop will call for a meeting of the clergy of the deanery, for spiritual reflection and to discuss the way forward for the diocese and their parishes. He suggested that the respective deans meet with the Deanery Pastoral Council Executive, if necessary via Skype or WhatsApp. In the third week, Bishop Phalana will have a Zoom meeting with deans to get some feedback and to discuss further. There will also be a Zoom meeting with consultors to look at the implications of reopening churches and the systems needed to put in place. The bishop will also attempt a Zoom or Skype meeting with the executive of the Diocesan Pastoral
Council and the Sodalities’ Forum. In the fourth week a pastoral letter to guide parishes for reopening churches in July will be issued. The diocesan Covid-19 relief team will also deliver masks for priests/deacon. A thermometer for screening will be delivered to each priest/deacon, and each parish will be provided with a 5-litre sanitiser for a start, and possibly rubber gloves. Bishop Phalana encouraged priests to fumigate their churches, at least once. Government or the health department might help with fumigation, but if they don’t, priests are advised to find a company that can fumigate and to let them send through a quotation. From June 29 to July 4 deepcleaning of churches will take place, and parishes are encouraged to mobilise people to volunteer to assist with cleaning. General cleaning of church outside areas and other buildings, as well as doing repairs and maintenance, and ensuring that they have running-water toilets that work properly are also recommended by the bishop. Those who are going to supervise the screening of members, who are going to be responsible for the registers and those who will supervise handwashing and the use of sanitisers must also be trained.
Faiths opt for caution and local decisions on reopening Continued from page 1 enough at this stage to decide if it is safe for us to reopen. For one thing, we don’t know the conditions under which our parishioners are living and therefore their Covid-19 status,” Cardinal Napier said. Therefore churches in the archdiocese will remain closed until the red-flag status has been officially removed in Ethekweni. “In the meantime, every parish priest in consultation with their parish leadership (PPC) should study the guidelines that were circulated and begin to prepare their own set of parish guidelines so when they are able to open they will be ready and able to do so.” He proposed that every priest, deacon and lay leader should undergo the basic training which the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for health has offered to provide in each region of the province. In the archdiocese of Cape Town, discussions on reopening churches for public worship are still underway, and the date of reopening is yet to be decided. There are many factors to consider about which churches will reopen, for example, in hotspots, said Archbishop Stephen Brislin. “We are requesting that priests make all the necessary preparations before churches reopen,” he said. “There is a lot that needs to get done before we can recommence, and everything must be in place.” Livestreaming of Masses, reflections and devotions will continue in the interim.
“We do find it important to begin the process of reopening for public worship, but it must be taken slowly and deliberately,” Archbishop Stephen Brislin said. “A phased-in approach has to be taken, whether churches open now or in the months to come. Since we have the necessary permission— with all the restrictions—I believe we can begin, bearing in mind the above,” he said. The South African Council of Churches (SACC) has published guidelines for its member churches and has proposed a 4- to 12-week preparation period—as late as the last week of August—for all churches to be able to function safely. “Churches will need to pay special attention to the needs of poor congregations, which mostly serve communities with no running water and no easy access to sanitiser, to meet the requirements of these operational standards,” said Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, general-secretary of the SACC, of which the Catholic Church is a member. Despite government giving the green light for religious gatherings, a number of religious organisations have opted to remain closed. Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane of the Zion Christian Church, South Africa’s largest faith body, announced that its churches won’t be opening during Level 3 and remain closed until further notice. The Muslim Judicial Council also discouraged the reopening of mosques under Level 3. “Only those masajid should
Catholic Bookshop goes online
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HE Catholic Bookshop, which has been serving the Church in Cape Town and beyond for more than 70 years, has launched its new online store—and is offering a special discount on first orders. To celebrate the launch of its online store, it is offering R100 off first orders of R500 or more. Customers can use the code “NEWCUSTOMER” at checkout to activate the discount. Delivery throughout South Africa is free on all orders above R500. The store carries Catholic and other Christian books from local and overseas publishers, and music CDs, jewellery, gifts and repository items.
The Catholic Bookshop, at 14 Tuin Plein, was originally part of the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Company, which publishes The Southern Cross. In 1933 the company started to sell books, with a volume of Mgr Frederick Kolbe’s poetry among the bestsellers. Out of that endeavour grew the Catholic Bookshop, which the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Company owned until it was sold to the Schoenstatt Institute in 1982. The Catholic Bookshop is run under independent management as a non-profit company. n The online shop is at www. catholicbookshop.co.za
open up within the limits allowed by Level 3 regulations that are able to afford, implement and rigorously enforce safety and sanitary procedures,” the council said. It noted that “within our hospitals and health facilities, despite the implementation of stringent precautionary measures, there have been over 1 000 infections of health workers, including doctors and nurses”. Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein, in a letter to the South African Jewish community, said synagogues in South Africa would also remain closed until they can reopen safely and comply with safety regulations. “There’s a lot at stake—and it’s not something that can or should
be rushed,” he said. For those places of worship that do reopen, the following rules under the new Level 3 regulations apply: • No more than 50 people are allowed per service. • Worshippers over the age of 60 are not allowed to attend. • Every person entering a place of worship must be screened on entry. • Services must not exceed two hours. • There must be a 30-minute interval between services. • Worshippers must wear masks at all times. • Where masks need to be removed, the distance between per-
sons must be increased to 2,5m. • Congregations are banned from singing hymns; only solo or prerecorded songs are allowed. • A register is required for each service with the name, address and contact details of worshippers. The registers must be stored and kept on record for at least six months. • No physical contact between persons at the place of worship. • Seating must be compliant with social distancing, with at least 1,5m between persons. • Any person counting offerings or gifts must sanitise their hands before, during and after. • No substance or liquid may be shared between persons.
“Here I am Lord” Cell: +27 72 769 7396, or +27 83 471 6081 E-mail: vocation.office@dehonafrica.net www.scj.org.za
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The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2020
INTERNATIONAL
Pope leads rosary for pandemic’s end BY CINDY WOODEN
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ITH a religious Sister who survived Covid-19 and a woman who lost her mother to the coronavirus, Pope Francis led the recitation of the rosary and asked Mary to intercede to save the world from the pandemic. More than 100 people joined the pope on May 30 for the early evening prayer in the Vatican Gardens at a replica of the grotto at Lourdes, France. More than 50 Marian shrines around the world, including Lourdes, were connected by satellite. Pope Francis did not make remarks or offer a meditation during the service. Instead he opened and closed the evening with the prayers he had asked Catholics to pray during the month of May, a month traditionally dedicated to Mary. He began by entrusting everyone to Mary under the title “Health of the Sick”. Chairs in the little square in front of the grotto were set 1,5m apart, and most people wore a mask. A brief rainstorm, which ended about an hour before the rosary began, seemed to energise the parakeets and other birds in the garden; they accompanied the prayer with their song and zipped back and forth over the little congregation. Each decade of the rosary was led by a person directly impacted by the virus, including Covid-19 survivors Giovanni de Cerce and Sr Zelia Andrighetti, superior-general of the
Pope Francis prays the rosary during a Marian prayer service at the Lourdes grotto in the Vatican Gardens. (Photo: Vatican Media/CNS) Daughters of St Camillus. Tea Pompeo, who is mourning her mother, represented those who lost a loved one during the pandemic. And Federica Polinari and Manuele Bartoli, with newborn Iacopo, represented families who had welcomed a new life into the world during the lockdown. Two doctors, a nurse, a pharmacist, a hospital chaplain, a television journalist and a civil protection volunteer also represented their peers. A short reading from Scripture preceded the proclamation of the five glorious mysteries of the rosary: the resurrection of Jesus, his ascension into heaven, the descent of the Holy Spirit, Mary’s assumption into heaven, and the crowning of Mary as queen of heaven and earth. Closing the rosary with the sec-
ond prayer he wrote for Catholics this year, Pope Francis repeated the ancient and traditional prayer to Mary, Sub tuum praesidium, or “We fly to your protection, O Holy Mother of God”. “In the present tragic situation, when the whole world is prey to suffering and anxiety, we fly to you, mother of God and our mother, and seek refuge under your protection,” the pope recited. He invoked Mary’s comfort for those who are distraught or in mourning, for the sick and their loved ones who cannot be with them for fear of spreading the coronavirus further. “Fill with hope those who are troubled by the uncertainty of the future and the consequences for the economy and employment,” the pope prayed. He remembered frontline workers, government leaders who must find the best ways to protect their people and scientists working to find a cure and a vaccine. “Beloved mother,” Pope Francis said, “help us realise that we are all members of one great family and recognise the bond that unites us, so that, in a spirit of fraternity and solidarity, we can help to alleviate countless situations of poverty and need,” Pope Francis prayed. “Make us strong in faith, persevering in service, constant in prayer.”— CNS Watch the full video of the rosary
YOUR GIFT OF ANY AMOUNT HELPS
People exercise social distancing as they attend Pope Francis’ recitation of the “Regina Coeli” from the window of his studio overlooking St Peter’s Square at the Vatican. The pope led the Sunday prayer from his window for the first time in three months after the square was reopened. The pope had been delivering the weekly prayer virtually due to lockdown measures. (Photo:Vatican Media/CNS)
Italians debate future of online Masses BY CINDY WOODEN
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S Italian Catholics celebrated Pentecost, the second Sunday with Masses permitted with a limited number of faithful, bishops and priests were still debating whether to continue livestreaming Masses as well. After a ten-week ban, Masses with the faithful were allowed again beginning on May 18. The number of people permitted to attend is determined by the size of the church building, the possibility of keeping people safely distanced from one another and the enforcement of measures such as everyone wearing masks. But people who have a fever or have been in contact in the previous 14 days with someone who tested positive for Covid-19 are not allowed to attend. And the national health service still was recommending that elderly people and people with certain ailments stay home as much as possible. Pope Francis’ last livestreamed Mass from the chapel of his residence was on May 17, although the next day the Vatican broadcast the Mass he celebrated in St Peter’s basilica at the tomb of St John Paul II to mark the 100th anniversary of the saint’s birth. Commenting on the decision to stop the live broadcasts, Andrea
Tornielli, editorial director for the Dicastery for Communication, noted that many people would miss the morning celebration, “but, as Pope Francis himself said, there is a need to return to the communal familiarity with the Lord in the sacraments by participating in the liturgy in person”. Archbishop Lauro Tisi of Trent said he would continue his livestreamed Masses through June “because we cannot forget that not everyone can come in yet”, particularly the elderly and the sick. But Fr Dino Pirri, a priest in Grottammare, worried that parishes rushing to get something online actually increased division among Catholics, “multiplying links without reflection” and creating a vast menu of “takeaway” liturgies for each Catholic to pick and choose from. Fr Alessandro Palermo, a priest in Marsala, also was stopping the livestreams. “It’s one thing to celebrate face-to-face and another to do so knowing that there are people on the other side of the screen listening to you and watching.” Even if the number of people allowed into the church at one time is limited, he said, people can come to weekday Masses. “Let’s celebrate Mass without telephones and cameras; let the people come back,” he said.—CNS
Burundi’s bishops: election was irregular BY FREDRICK NZWILI
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ISHOPS in Burundi criticised the nation’s May 20 presidential election as substandard, saying it was marred by widespread irregularities and general lack of freedom to choose. “We deplore many irregularities with regard to the freedom and transparency in the electoral process as well as fairness in the treatment of candidates and voters,” said Bishop Joachim Ntahondereye, president of the Burundian bishops’ conference. He particularly highlighted that pressure was exerted on electoral agents to sign, in advance, results of ballot boxes, stuffing of the boxes and voting by deceased people and refugees. Some administrators reportedly intimidated voters whom they accompanied at voting booths, and some people voted more than once. Other concerns included exclusion of observers from vote-counting centres, intrusion into counting centres by unauthorised people, and failure to guarantee secrecy of the ballot. “Faced with all these irregularities and many others, we wonder if they do not prejudice the result,” Bishop Ntahondereye said in a statement.
On May 25, Evariste Ndayishimiye, the ruling party’s candidate, was declared the winner of the elections with 69% of the vote. The main opposition leader, Agathon Rwasa, rejected the result. He has challenged the outcome in the country’s constitutional court, which has until June 5 to make a decision. If Mr Ndayishimiye’s election is upheld, he will succeed President Pierre Nkurunziza, who has been in power since 2005. Mr Nkurunziza’s relationship with the Catholic Church took a turn for the worse when he decided to run for president for a third term. The bishops rejected the move as unconstitutional and warned it would destabilise the country. Within weeks, widespread demonstrations turned violent in the capital, Bujumbura, and the government cracked down. Then, government officials accused the Church of playing a purely political role and sponsoring terrorism. Before the election, the bishops urged citizens to remain calm and shun violence. They urged people disgruntled by the vote to seek redress in the courts.—CNS
The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2020
INTERNATIONAL
‘Racism is spiritual virus that must be wiped out’ BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES
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acism is a “spiritual” virus that has spread throughout the world and must be eradicated, said Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. “I would compare racism to Covid-19, but it is a virus of the spirit, a cultural virus that, if not isolated, spreads quickly,” Archbishop Paglia said. The Italian archbishop was commenting on the May 25 death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis and the subsequent protests throughout the United States. Mr Floyd, 46, was arrested by police on suspicion of forgery. Once he was handcuffed, a white officer pinned him down on the street, putting his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for eight minutes. A now widely-circulated video shows him repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe.” He appears to lose consciousness or die and was
later declared dead at the hospital. Archbishop Paglia said that just as people were called to self-isolate in order to care for one another, racism can only be defeated by people caring for each other. “Today we must start a revolution of brotherhood. We are all brothers and sisters. Brotherhood is a promise that is lacking in modern times,” he said. “In my opinion, the true strength that supports us in our weakness is brotherhood and solidarity. And just as it defeats the coronavirus, it also defeats racism.” The fight against racism, he added, is done “not with violence but in the style of Martin Luther King Jr—with words, with culture, with faith, with humanism. It is fought the same way we fight against the coronavirus.” “It’s not enough to remain silent,” the Italian archbishop said. “To prevent the virus of racism from multiplying, those who oppose racism must also multiply.” He said the US has had a vocation
of helping others, not just themselves, but “I believe they have lost” that vocation. Archbishop Paglia said he believed Pope Francis should consider writing a document that addresses the subject of racism, a problem “all over the world”. However, he also noted that the pope’s 2019 letter marking the 25th anniversary of the Pontifical Academy for Life reflects on many of the same divisions that exist in the world today. In the letter, titled “The Human Community”, Pope Francis said: “Mutual distrust between individuals and peoples is being fed by an inordinate pursuit of self-interest and intense competition that can even turn violent. The gap between concern with one’s own wellbeing and the prosperity of the larger human family seems to be stretching to the point of complete division,” the pope wrote.—CNS
Pope clears way to sainthood for three, advances causes of others BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES
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OPE Francis has advanced the sainthood causes of two women and 11 men, including a miracle attributed to Bl Charles de Foucauld. In a meeting with Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, the pope also authorised decrees recognising miracles attributed to Bl Cesar de Bus, founder of the Fathers of Christian Doctrine, and Bl Maria Domenica Mantovani, cofounder and superior general of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family. The pope’s recognition of the miracles ascribed to Bls De Foucauld, De Bus and Mantovani clear the way for their canonisation. Born in Strasbourg, France, in 1858, Bl De Foucauld lost his faith during his adolescence. However, during a trip to Morocco, he saw how Muslims expressed their faith, so he returned to the Church. His rediscovery of his Christian faith prompted him to join Trappist monasteries for seven years in France and Syria, before choosing to live a life of prayer and adoration alone. After his ordination to the priesthood in 1901, Bl De Foucauld chose to live among the poor and finally
Bl Charles de Foucauld who will canonised a saint by Pope Francis. settled in Tamanrasset, Algeria, until 1916, when he was killed by a band of marauders. Bl De Bus was also born in France and, like his compatriot, also lived his early adulthood away from his faith. After returning to the Church, he entered the priesthood and was ordained in 1582. Ten years later, he founded the Fathers of Christian Doctrine, a religious congregation dedicated to education, pastoral ministry and catechesis. He died in Avignon, France, in 1607. From the age of 15, Bl Mantovani, born in 1862 in Castelletto di Brenzone, Italy, played an active role in her parish, teaching catechism and visiting the sick.
Faith, not efficiency, is the heart of Church’s mission BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES
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OPE Francis’ recent message to the pontifical mission societies is a reminder that the Church’s primary mission is to proclaim the Gospel, not run institutions with businesslike efficiency, said Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle. In an interview with Vatican News, Cardinal Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, said that the pope “is not against efficiency and methods” that could help the Church’s missionary activities. However, the cardinal said, “he is warning us about the danger of measuring Church mission using only the standards and outcomes predetermined by the models or schools of management, no matter how good and useful these may be”. “The tools of efficiency can help but should never substitute for Church mission,” he said. “The most efficiently-run Church organisation may end up being the least missionary.”
The pope sent the message to the mission societies after their general assembly was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. While the mission societies raise awareness and promote prayer for the missions, they also raise money to fund myriad projects in some of the world’s poorest countries. Pope Francis warned, however, that fundraising can never be their first priority. Cardinal Tagle said the pope sees a danger in donations becoming “merely funds or resources to be used, rather than tangible signs of love, of prayer, of sharing the fruits of human labour”. “The faithful who become committed and joyful missionaries are our best resource, not money per se,” the cardinal said. “It is also good to remind our faithful that even their small donations, when put together, become a tangible expression of the Holy Father’s universal missionary charity to Churches in need. No gift is too small when given for the common good,” he said.—CNS
In 1892, she co-founded the Little Sisters of the Holy Family and became the congregation’s first superior-general. During her time leading the congregation, she dedicated her life to serving the poor and needy as well as assisting the sick and the elderly. After her death in 1934, the Little Sisters of the Holy Family spread throughout Europe, Africa and South America. The other decrees approved by Pope Francis included the recognition of the miracle needed for the beatification of Venerable PaulineMarie Jaricot (1799-1862), founder of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith and of the Association of the Living Rosary, who featured in a two-part series in The Southern Cross earlier this year. The pope also recognised the martyrdom of Franciscan Father Cosma Spessotto, who was killed by assassins in San Juan Nonualco, El Salvador, in 1980, several months after St Oscar Romero was killed. Pope Francis also recognised the heroic virtues of French Bishop Melchior-Marie-Joseph de Marion-Bresillac (1913-59), the founder of the Society of African Missions, which is also active in South Africa.—CNS
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Sr Victoria from Iraq greets a child before Mass in St Catherine’s church in Bethlehem, West Bank, on May 26, the day the church reopened after being closed during the Covid-19 pandemic. (Photo: Debbie Hill/CNS)
Joy and uncertainty as Bethlehem reopens BY JUDITH SUDILOVSKY
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ETHLEHEM residents returned to the church of the Nativity as the holy site opened to visitors on May 26 after being closed since March because of the Covid-19 pandemic. But amid the joy was a feeling of uncertainty about their economic future, as pilgrims and tourists are not yet able to return. In the crypt where Christians venerate the traditional site of Jesus’ birth, local Syriac Catholic tour guide Rizek Nazi was filming a video on his cellphone with his two sons, George, 10, and Aram, 9, to give pilgrims a virtual tour of the place as it opened, and to entice them to plan a visit once international travel reopens. The sole breadwinner for his family, Mr Nazi has not worked since March 7. “I want people to keep the idea of coming on pilgrimage to Bethlehem in the back of their minds for when they can travel,” he said.
In his videos, Mr Nazi emphasised the safety and health precautions being taken in Bethlehem. “As Palestinians, we know to always try to keep some savings for the dark days, but now all that is gone,” he added. Samir Hazboun, chairman of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce, noted that unemployment was 95% in the tourism sector of what he called the “Christian triangle” of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour. “The Christian triangle depends on tourism and handicrafts related to tourism. Whenever we look at tourism now around the world, we can see how difficult it is,” he said. “The Christians will be heavily affected, as their income is mainly related to the tourism and the service sector,” said Mr Hazboun. Unemployment in all the Palestinian areas has doubled from the 22% prepandemic level, he said.— CNS
Vatican summer camp for kids
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FTER months of quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Vatican will open its gardens and several buildings to the children of its lay employees for summer camps in July. The “Summer for Young People at the Vatican”, a series of weeklong camps from July 6-31, is planned as a “unique experience where young people can discover the beauty of sharing, feel that they are among family and become friends so as not to remain alone, and to feel welcomed and valued”, said Bishop Fernando Vergez, secretary-general of the Governorate of Vatican City State.
During the summer camp, Vatican employees’ children aged 5-14 will be able to take part in various summer activities in the world’s smallest sovereign state, including team sports at the Vatican heliport, educational activities in the Vatican Gardens, and ping pong and table sports as well as meals in the Paul VI audience hall. Led by certified educators and professional entertainers—and assisted by Salesian priests working at the Vatican—the children will also be able to play tennis, basketball and soccer as well as aquatic sports in newly-installed pools at the Vatican.—CNS
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The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2020
The
LEADER PAGE
S outher n C ross Editor: Günther Simmermacher
Why lives matter
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N democratic, rights-based societies, security forces are called to protect and serve the people of their countries. When they do so, often at risk to their own lives, they merit our support and commendation. There are indeed many heroes in the uniforms of the police and the armed forces. Alas, as has been evident in the past few weeks in different places, there are also some people in uniform who deserve our censure, and even condemnation. In recent news, three countries which are held up as rights-based democracies have come to mind. During lockdown, South Africa has had at least four cases in which the apparently undue intervention of security personnel resulted in the deaths of individuals. Most prominent of these was the case of Collins Khosa, a civilian in Alexandra, Johannesburg, who died following an apparent assault by soldiers on private property. The inquiry report by the South African National Defence Force gives an appearance of a craven whitewash, and fails to establish cause for the actions of its personnel in trespassing on Mr Khosa’s property other than a prior verbal altercation. The police have opened a murder docket on the matter, and the case is still ongoing. In the United States, the shocking killing of Christian community worker George Floyd, caught on video, led to sustained countrywide protests expressing anger at systemic racism which has accelerated in the past few years. Less reported was last week’s killing in Jerusalem by the Israeli Defence Force of Eyad Hallaq, an unarmed autistic Palestinian, under the craven pretext that soldiers mistook his cellphone for a gun. None of these three headline deaths of innocent civilians at the hands of security forces are unusual. In South Africa, the death of Mr Khosa evokes the memory of Andries Tatane (and, indeed, the Marikana massacre). In the US and Israeli-controlled territories, lethal shootings by security personnel of unarmed black and Palestinian civilians are commonplace. Rarely are there proportionate consequences, if any, to these extrajudicial executions. These systemic, racist killings
aren’t taking place in tyrannies but in supposedly democratic, rights-based societies. Blacks in the US and in South Africa, and Palestinians in Israelcontrolled territories, are at daily risk of being harassed, injured or killed by security forces in ways which whites and Israelis are not. So in the US, the slogan #BlackLivesMatter has obvious currency which cannot be dismissed with the kneejerk response that “all lives matter”. Of course, all lives do matter. But the slogan “Black Lives Matter” has virtue because black lives are seen not to matter. As Catholics, we can easily understand the point. If we were to frame our opposition to abortion in the terminology of “Unborn Lives Matter”, we would look unkindly on that concern being dismissed with the response, “all lives matter”. That response would indicate that unborn lives require no protection. In a similar way, the response “all lives matter” serves to delegitimise real black grievances. An analogy may illustrate this priority. In a street, all houses matter. But when Number 14 is in flames, that house matters in particular. It matters not to the exclusion of the other houses, but right now, Number 14 is under threat. The other houses are safe and have no need of the fire brigade. Should Number 17 then catch fire, that house, too, would matter in a particular way and consequently be in need of saving by the fire brigade. All lives matter, but right now, it is necessary to point out that black lives matter. Palestinian lives matter. Christian lives in Nigeria matter. Muslim lives in China matter. Rohingya lives in Myanmar matter. Unborn lives matter. As people of decency, we may not be unmoved by the deaths of Mr Khosa, Mr Floyd or Mr Hallaq, of those who died at the hands of people in uniform before them, or of those who will die after them. As Catholics, we may not be indifferent to their violent deaths, or any violent deaths, because we are pro-life people. We cannot be silent. Collins Khosa, George Floyd, Eyad Hallaq and so many others call us to solidarity. In the face of racism—the denial of God in whose image we all are made—indifference and inaction is not an option.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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.
Do traditional leaders really need govt funding? I N a Sunday Times report recently, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier was quoted regarding clergy who were not receiving their usual funds due to the closure of all churches. He said if the government could find a way to include struggling clergy in its schemes “that are there to help the poor, well and good. Some kind of assistance would certainly be appreciated.” I’m not sure why he should want the government to include the clergy in schemes to help the poor. The clergy in South Africa are mostly not poor. At this time they are certainly suffering because of a lack of income, but so are millions of other people who are not earning salaries
and have many very-costly commitments to fulfil. What I don’t understand is that the government spends millions of rands on “traditional leaders”. Surely, the cardinals, bishops, priests, pastors, rabbis, imams, and so on, are also traditional leaders? At this time, the Church should rather be lobbying for recognition of and support for all “traditional leaders” and that “our” traditional leaders should be brought into line with all other African traditional leaders. As of June 2018, South African traditional leaders cost the taxpayer more than R250 million a year. The kings and queens received R1,2 million a year and the chairpersons of the National House of Traditional Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate. Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately. Letters can be sent to PO Box 2372, Cape Town 8000 or editor@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465-3850
We must let the spirit guide us
I
T’S interesting how God revealed himself in the three persons of the Trinity sequentially and how each step takes that revelation to a deeper, more intimate level. I owe a lot to Cecil B DeMille and Charlton Heston for my introduction to God in the 1956 movie The Ten Commandments. A burning bush on Mount Sinai, his mighty deeds in Egypt—this was a God I wanted in my corner. As a boy I rather hoped to climb Mount Sinai and see if he was in. The image of Jesus is certainly different; more personal, though not lacking drama by any means. I find that the scene on the shore of Lake Galilee, after his work, death and Resurrection is completed, tells a lot about him. It’s a rather ordinary scene, breakfast on the shore with his friends to strengthen their hearts and celebrate. There is no pomp and ceremony; if you’ll excuse the absurdity, St Peter doesn’t put on a big hat while the apostles line up in height order and start chanting (in Latin) while he wafts incense in Jesus’ direction. I wonder if we have lost sight a bit of what he is really like.
At Pentecost the Holy Spirit is revealed to us and this is the area where we have really lost the plot. The principal thing that happened with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the beginning of the supernatural life of the Church. As the apostles witnessed, their word was confirmed by the miracles that accompanied their testimony as they were led by the indwelling Spirit. Are we led by the same indwelling Spirit ? It’s said that “common sense (worldly wisdom) is the enemy of the supernatural life” or the life in the Spirit, as often the supernatural life is counterintuitive. For example, in Acts 3:6-7 where Peter meets a lame beggar at the beautiful gate. Common sense may lead us to help in a practical way, such as food, small change, and so on, but the supernatural life says “in the name of
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Jesus of Nazareth I order you to get up and walk”, which of course he did. Similarly, in Acts 9:36-40 where a believer called Tabitha dies. Common sense might recommend an undertaker, the supernatural life caused Peter to kneel down and pray and say to the corpse, “Tabitha, get up”, which she did. For that to happen in our day, we must be open to the Spirit, develop the interior life, and listen to the Spirit or we will miss those moments in hesitation or because of our allegiance to common sense. Stephen Clark, Manila, Philippines
Basic income grant sound idea
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AGREE with Mphuthumi Ntabeni’s column “Basic income grant has Catholic backing” (May 20). Let us not waste this opportunity to introduce a basic income grant, with provisos. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is that the rich, the brilliant, the talented, and so on, are also vulnerable. Now to find honest, truly caring people to run with the basic income grant. Tony Serafin, Cape Town
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Leaders earned R850 000 and their deputies R650 000. Headmen and headwomen received an annual salary of more than R100 000. Other than having political power at the voting polls and the settling of disputes in rural areas, their positions of power are symbolic only. The vast amount of taxpayers’ money which presently goes to the legislated traditional leaders should be equally distributed to the traditional leaders of all faiths and cultures, and especially to include those who do not subscribe to or are benefiting in any way from the very costly incumbent institution. Tony Meehan, Cape Town
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The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
Thank God when washing hands Serialong W Lebasa ASH your hands regularly, we are told. Wash them for at least 20 seconds. And how are we going to count 20 seconds when busy washing our hands? Sing “Happy Birthday” twice, we are motivated. Use soap and running water, we are taught. I tried it. I sang “Happy Birthday” at my own speed and I counted approximately 20 seconds. It worked. But it quickly became monotonous. Many thoughts run through my head as I wash my hands. There are moments where I experience a feeling of guilt. Why am I overwhelmed with guilt? Why don’t I enjoy my running water and soap? Who am I to enjoy running water? There are many people out there who do not have water, let alone running water. Every time I turn on a tap in the house and choose hot or cold water, I don’t realise how precious water is and how lucky I am to have it. I treat it as “just” water without attaching any value to it. Maybe I think I am entitled to it. Who cares, it’s just a bar of soap? Maybe to some of us it is just a bar of soap. It is just a bar of soap because we have always had many bars and possibly even different brands of soap. To some of us it may be just a R7 bar of soap. But, to other people it is an expensive commodity which they struggle to get. These people are not different from those of us who have lots of soap. They just find themselves in an unfortunate situation which they did not choose. When we wash our hands for 20 seconds with running water and soap, we
should not just do so to wash off possible Covid-19 infection our hands.
What to tell God
We can cherish this time as an opportunity to express our gratitude to God and pray: “Lord we are not worthy or deserving to have this running water and soap to wash our hands. There are many of your good children out there who are in dire need of water and soap. “It is because of your mercy that we have these two things and many other material possessions which we have taken for granted without realising how lucky we are to have them. We thank you, our God and Creator. “When we rub and scrub our hands, may we offer every one of the 20 seconds in gratitude for all your gifts, and con-
When washing hands, thank God for the gift of water and soap, advises Serialong Lebasa.
Point of Reflection
tinue to pray for those who lack fundamental needs. “Oh God, our Creator, when we wash the physical dirt and potential virus off our hands, we also come to you with contrite hearts and pray that you protect us and the whole world from any ‘spiritual corona’ in our lives. Lord, wash all our iniquities and cleanse us from the corona of sin. “We thank you God for the gift of life. We thank you for giving us hands. There are people without hands, Lord. Take our hands, make them your own so that we can do your will and help our brothers and sisters in need, especially during this time. “God our Creator, let us know and understand your Divine Teaching and Will during this time of Covid-19. Let us not be overcome by despair in thinking that this is a punishment from you. If you would punish us Lord, no one would survive. “Be with those who are in need of food, shelter and other necessities of life during this time and beyond. Give strength to the sick. Open your heavenly doors to the dying. Walk with our doctors, nurses, medical researchers and all health workers during this trying time. Amen.” We can all use these 20 seconds of washing our hands to say a little prayer and thank God for many blessings.
Back to normal in un-normal times Sarah-Leah E Pimentel VERY year, I feel a little deflated after the feasts of the Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi. It seems as if the great spiritual journey we have been on since Ash Wednesday ends abruptly when we return to Ordinary Time in our liturgical calendar. Lent draws us to struggle with our natures as we seek to shed the shadows within ourselves that keep us separated from Jesus. We make physical and spiritual sacrifices to unite ourselves to Christ’s suffering, so that purged of our sins, we can rise with him into the new life of Resurrection. Then, we are on a spiritual high through the six weeks of Easter until the Ascension. Jesus has defeated death. The joyful and triumphant alleluias we proclaim at each Mass make us feel as if all things are possible. The readings show us the disciples as they begin to build the Church. Their enthusiasm and conviction in the message of Jesus (which they have finally understood) infects those who hear them, prompting them to believe the Good News. It is a dynamic time of growth and new life. With the disciples, we struggle with the dichotomy of presence and absence as we stand on the hill and watch Jesus disappear from sight at the Ascension. He is gone but promises to be with us always. He promises to send an advocate, a spirit of counsel—but compared to the physical presence of Jesus, the third person of the Trinity seems somewhat ephemeral. During the nine days to Pentecost, we then try to come to terms with Jesus’ promise that he is with us always, even though we do not see him. We are expectant as we pray our novenas and reflect on the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit. But we struggle with their intangibility. Wisdom, gentleness, piety
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Jesus promised that he would be with us always—and he kept that promise. (Photo: Josh Applegate/Unsplash) do not have the same flesh and blood quality of the physical Jesus. Into all of this erupts the drama of Pentecost. Walls of fear are torn down. Wind and fire defy the laws of nature. The Holy Spirit emerges into this turbulence. It is pure energy, filling the frightened disciples with such courage, such love, such missionary zeal that Peter speaks with more eloquence than he knew he had. The voice of the Holy Spirit breaks the boundaries of religion, culture, and language, and it transforms hearts to such an extent that thousands are moved to conversion. What an introduction to the Holy Spirit!
Another depth of emotion And just when we think that the human spirit cannot contain any further depth of emotion, we encounter the indivisible love and unity of the Holy Trinity. Nothing is more intimate than this triune relationship. In that gaze between the Father and the Son, with the Holy Spirit who is the eternal bond of love between them, we catch a glimpse of heaven and the eternity that awaits us.
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We want to remain in that love, just like the disciples who wanted to remain on the mountain at the Transfiguration. Yet, we are painfully aware that we live in a world of imperfection, suffering and pain, and we must return to it for a time. Just as he promised, Jesus does not leave us alone. He gives himself eucharistically so that we may be one, just as the Father, the Son and the Spirit are one. Thus, we step into the last great mystery of the journey—Corpus Christi. Two thousand years later, Jesus is as close to us as to the disciples who walked with him through Galilee and Judea and into Jerusalem. In the sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus comes to us still—not just at Corpus Christi but every time Mass is celebrated—in his humanity and his divinity, as completely as we can possibly receive him in our human state. It is our promise of heaven here on earth. And then, just like that, we’re plunged into Ordinary Time for some 20-odd weeks until the end of the liturgical year. After the incredible journey we’ve been on, I’m never quite ready to descend into normality. This year it is especially hard to return to the ordinary. Without the physical contact of going to Mass and receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, in the absence of our faith-sharing groups, the impulses of the Lenten and Easter journey buoyed us up and gave us the spiritual strength to overcome fear, anger, loneliness, sickness, the loss of income and freedom. So what now? How much longer can we endure online Mass, trying to connect Continued on page 11
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Keenan Williams
Talking Faith
How I see the ‘new normal’ Church
F
OR the past three months we have all begun getting used to this “new normal”. Frankly, we got a rough start, but this new way of life is indeed becoming a normal for many of us. For me, like many, it was a strange end to our Lenten journey and start of Easter. But as governments around the world threw their people into the deep end and expected them to “swim”, the Church too needed to find alternative ways of ministering and continuing the work of Christ in the World. As priests and religious scrambled to continue catechesis and ministry through Mass and various other forms, their creativity and that of many of the faithful shone through. From priests using water pistols filled with Holy Water to bless their congregants to drive-thru Masses and confessions. We are also seeing some priests celebrate Mass in one part of the world while their musicians are proclaiming the Word of God through song on a completely different continent. But my family yearns for fellowship again as a Church community, to sing in unison with the congregation, and to receive our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. But we have begun accepting this new way of doing things. We now get to “visit” different parishes in different parts of the world each day. We are growing in our faith and relationship with God as we dig deeper into the scriptures and listen to some exceptional homilies. From Ireland to Australia to the US to the Philippines and South Africa, Jesus is being brought to his people. The old way has lived its course, and this new way will begin to pave the path to how we will continue to grow and form as a Church. It might not be as a drastic a change as Vatican II was, but a radical change it should be. The old way had left many of us complacent, doing the same old same old, but this new way which initially left many of us uncomfortable, got us off our pews and move us to take the Word of God outside the confines of the church (buildings).
Post-lockdown, let’s be apostles As we begin to imagine at how a post-lockdown Church would look like, we need to discern how and where God wants each of us to be used in the establishment of his Kingdom. This apostleship goes well beyond the call of our ordained ministers–the responsibility lies with each of us. We are all called to take the Good News to all the World. We are all called to proclaim the Word of God, through how we live our lives and interact with one another. And we are all called to grow in faith, love and charity. And through this faith to grow in a stronger relationship with Jesus. In the simplicity of our worship now, let us begin building the foundation of the Church which exists within each of us. And as we all grow in a closer relationship with our only way to the Father, may our hearts be erected in love and may joy course within our souls. And as that joy oozes out from within each of us, may compassion touch the lives of our brothers and sisters who are suffering at this time, those who have lost their jobs, those who are lonely, those who are sick. Even though we are told to stay home (and we should) and to adhere to stringent measures, Our Lord calls each of us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, tend to the sick and be “fishers of men”. As we allow the Holy Spirit to exist within each of us, may he make us a stronger Church community. And may we, as we begin to fathom what a post-lockdown worship community would look like, emulate that of the early disciples of Jesus. May small faith-sharing groups flourish. May we, as families, stream our daily Masses if we can (if we can’t go to actual Mass, of course), and may we pray together as a community through the various channels afforded to us. May we also embrace this change and adapt to this “new normal”. For many of us, this is different, it is uncomfortable, but may we get out of the boat and walk on the water with Jesus. And as that water rebirths us as Church through baptism, may the flame of the Holy Spirit rejuvenate a more active, alive and refreshed Church as we continue establishing the Kingdom of the Father on Earth. This is my vision. May we continue to pray: “Father, you lead and I will follow. May your will be done and not my own.”
8
The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2020
MEDIA
Print is still worth the paper it’s written on The printed word still carries greater weight than the digital, and that is why the Church must not let printed media die, according to J D LONG-GARCIA.
We all know this at some level. If I hand someone a gift in a brown paper bag, I know I am saying something by the wrapping (or lack of it). Today, leaders of Catholic publications—news outlets, diocesan periodicals and other tools of evangelisation—are asking themselves important questions about HE Canadian journalist Mar- their print products. Can they conshall McLuhan—the philoso- tinue to produce hard-copy newspapher of media—was best pers and magazines at the same known for the phrase, “The frequency, if at all? Perhaps more important, should they? medium is the message”. These are not easy questions. That quote has been subject to numerous interpretations—and There are many dimensions to consome of those have even been accu- sider beyond budgets and balance sheets. But advertising is nevertherate. At the risk of oversimplifying, it less a good measure. “In the world of advertising, you means that the vehicle through which a message is communicated do not start by the creation of an is as important as the message itself. ad, but by studying the effect you wish to elicit,” McLuhan said in a McLuhan argued that “the 1972 interview: “You create the medium” communicates somecause after the effect has been dething beyond the confined.” tent, but like a fish in Advertisers consider water, we are often untheir audience and what Choosing to aware of what that is. they would like their auTake wedding invita- produce only a diences to do after they tions, for example. I see their ad. have 38 cousins, and it digital product Advertisers still like seems like at least one of print because people are is choosing them gets married every less likely to multitask year. They always send a economics over when reading hard paper invitation, not a and if you are evangelisation copies, digital RSVP. paying for an ad, you They are communiwant people to pay atcating—consciously or tention. not—that this particular message is According to a 2018 study by the special. This is not an invitation to London-based media consultant trivia night or happy hour or even firm Ebiquity, print advertising still a 5-year-old’s birthday party. has the highest return on investAnd I react differently to the ment. paper invitation. Maybe I will save The distraction of digital it longer. It occupies space, however This is not hard to believe. How small, in my home. I stick it to my many times have you picked up fridge with a magnet. When things arrive via the post your cellphone to do something office, I treat them differently from only to be distracted by a text alert, when I receive something in my e- forgetting momentarily why you mail inbox. I receive a news maga- picked up your phone in the first zine’s digital newsletter every day, place? Phones and tablets are great but when I get my print copy I stop, tools, but they certainly do not genadmire the cover, thumb through it erate undivided attention. In 2017, a study by the marketand let my wife know it has arrived.
about McLuhan in the Saturday Review.
Value of your message
T
The mastheads of numerous North American Catholic newspapers are seen in this photo illustration. “By choosing print, publishers communicate that what they have to say is at least worth the cost of paper. They also signal that their message is worth taking up physical space, however small, on your coffee table or on your bedside table,” writes JD Long-Garcia in this article. (Photo: Tyler Orsburn/CNS) ing firm MarketingProfs reported that 92% of 18- to 23-year-olds found print easier to read than digital content. Perhaps surprisingly, this age group was also more likely to trust and respond to print advertising over other media forms. That may explain why the total number of magazine readers in the United States grew between 2012 and 2018. US figures can be instructive for worldwide trends. In terms of Catholic media, 24% of US Catholic households receive a diocesan print publication, according to a 2018 compilation of statistics from Faith Publishing. Catholic television, reaching 7% of Catholic households, is a distant second among forms of media. Catholic radio reaches 5% of US Catholics. Diocesan websites reach 4%, and diocesan accounts on Facebook and Twitter combined reach 5,5% of Catholic households. These numbers indicate that targeted print publications are still an effective means of communication.
And a 2018 report from the printing company Freeport Press found that readers prefer print magazines over digital versions. The study also found that most magazine subscribers report spending more than 30 minutes with each issue. This is not surprising, considering the attention that print demands of us. Print magazines and newspapers do not curate content for the individual, so subscribers see a greater variety of opinions side by side than they likely would when skimming their social media feed. What else is communicated through the “ancient” medium of print? As early as the 1970s, scientists measured brain waves to demonstrate how we interact differently with various forms of media and discovered that we have a more “active” response to print. “We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us,” Fr John Culkin SJ wrote in a 1969 article
By choosing print, publishers communicate that what they have to say is at least worth the cost of paper. They also signal that their message is worth taking up physical space, however small, on your coffee table or on your bedside table. I do save copies of my favourite magazines. And I refer to them as “mine”. My print magazine arrives at my home, whereas I visit a website to read something online. We use different words to describe these interactions because they name a different relationship. As a reader, I am more invested—financially, emotionally and psychologically— in printed publications. The trend towards digital is inevitable. The Church needs to engage with audiences using digital platforms and to do so more often. But we cannot throw away print. Choosing to produce only a digital product is choosing economics over evangelisation. It is choosing who you are evangelising with, even though faith is meant to be universal. Being a Church that communicates effectively requires being aware of the strengths of each medium. This is the classic “both/and”. Being committed to communicating via print and digital platforms says the Church is committed to reaching people in whatever platform they prefer. Print will, without question, continue, even if it never regains dominance. Those who continue publishing will stand out from the rest and will be signalling that what they say is worth the extra expense. The Catholic Church has a story to tell. And it is a story that is worth telling in print. n J D Long-Garcia is a senior editor of the Jesuit America magazine, in which this article originally appeared.
What’s the future of The Southern Cross? What is the situation now for The Southern Cross? Editor Günther Simmermacher answers questions about the present challenges and the vision for future.
Q. How has lockdown affected The Southern Cross? A. The lockdown effectively took away our points of sale—the parishes—in one fell swoop. That means that the only income we receive is from advertising, digital subscriptions and donations. While all that helps, it doesn’t cover our overheads. Our board has had to make tough decisions, including salary cuts for all staff. Happily, our landlord, the archdiocese of Cape Town, agreed to a significant reduction in rent for the lockdown period.
So at the moment we are drawing from our already thin reserves. Of course, we receive no subsidy whatsoever from the Church. Will The Southern Cross survive the crisis? Nobody knows what will happen next. Even the massive sports industries have to play it by ear. The longer churches are closed or congregations are heavily restricted, the more pressure we feel because we can’t print and sell our editions. So if one day our reserves run dry, there’ll be no more Southern Cross, which nobody in his right mind would want. We already know that there won’t be a bailout from the bishops’ conference, because they have lost all the funding they raise every year with the Lenten Appeal. It really would be a shame if this newspaper were to go under just a few months before it would celebrate its 100th birthday. Having said that, from the begin-
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ning, the staff and board were committed to work hard to keep The Southern Cross alive. We do our very best to continue to produce a topclass newspaper, and to promote it as best as we can. The rest we place in God’s hands. How is The Southern Cross produced during lockdown? The newspaper appears as it would in print, only digitally now. And all that is done from our respective home-offices. The staff haven’t seen each other since March 25, the day before lockdown, and still we are able to produce a newspaper while maintaining our high quality. All that is being done through digital communication, which I never thought would work. But we quickly found our rhythm and systems. Not having to drive in rush hour to work is a bonus. I find, though, that working at home, I put in many more hours than I did in the office.
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Has the digital Southern Cross been well-received? I do hope so. We certainly have people reading The Southern Cross who didn’t do so before, through the free edition which we make available every Sunday. The point of making the digital editions free—though accessible later than for the subscribers—was to make sure that those who used to buy the newspaper at Mass on Sundays would still have access to it. We also wanted to bring the Church to the people at a time when they can’t go to church. And, of course, we are hoping that those who have discovered The Southern Cross through the free issue will want their Catholic newspaper when we return to print, or even subscribe now to the digital edition. And has that succeeded? Well, we’ll see when we print again. But the digital subscriptions have increased, and the engagement with our digital presence has been really encouraging. I hope that many people will go to their parish priest and ask that they increase their order of The Southern Cross, or stock it if they didn’t do so before. But print media is on the way out. Why not just stay digital? Research shows the opposite: print media is still valued and valuable. The trick is to see how print can best work in conjunction with digital. That is the challenge for us. If we survive this crisis—which, with God’s help, I think we will—it’s important that we review and then implement various options. So we might find that a different format,
Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher. (Photo: Fr Paul Tatu CSS) like maybe a magazine, would serve our readership and community better than the present one. These discussions are already underway, with some exciting ideas. Does that review also include the bishops? The bishops’ conference is represented on the board of directors, through the president and secretary-general, as well as a lay representative. If a bishop wishes to contribute ideas, one way to do so is through these board members. Of course, they can also communicate directly with me, also to send in news or opinion articles. As The Southern Cross, we have done a lot to engage with the bishops over the years, and we have even requested a session at a plenary at which we could exchange ideas with all the bishops in our region. I really hope that this will still be possible in the future.
MINISTRY
The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2020
9
How to be Church in the ‘new normal’ The Covid-19 crisis and the lockdown have forced parishes to find new ways of being Church, especially through digital means. FR BRETT WILLIAMS argues that this will help in the New Evangelisation.
Throw out the excuses
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ARLY on in the corona pandemic lockdown, Fr Thomas Weston, a priest from California who had visited our Durban parish of Morningside a couple of years before, wrote on Facebook: “Remember that your Church is a community that is online; it is not an online community.” Something else that has stayed with me is what came out in an online coaching session with Ron Huntley of Divine Renovation: “The ‘why’ we do things has not changed, just the ‘how’!” These two statements really struck me and have remained with me throughout this time of learning and attempting to minister online during these challenging times. It has been important for me to remember that I am part of a community, and that connection, relationships and relatedness are values that we have to guard and nourish in the weeks or months ahead. This community which I belong to, is made up of men and women, young and old. There are real people with emotions, fears and anxieties (most especially at this time), behind the computer screen or cellphone; and these people are known to me and I to them. Instead of coming together as we usually did, we now have to gather in different ways—but that does not change our community and relationships, and it does not change the fact that we are a people of faith united by the Holy Spirit. We are now a Church community that has moved online—that’s how we are now doing church! The “how” and the place of our worship, mission and community has changed, but not our “why”!
How to be Church Very few Catholic priests or their parish communities in South Africa had embraced or used new media in their mission of evangelisation and community-building before the outbreak of the coronavirus and the resulting national lockdown. Consequently, the sudden absence of parishioners in our pews and youngsters in our catechism sessions precipitated a crisis. “How” were we to be faithful to our “why”? How were we going to be and do Church in this new environment? The idea of the New Evangelisation, spoken of by all the recent popes, is often put forward in rather abstract terms. Many Catholics who want to be involved are at a loss as to how to do it. Much has been said and there are plenty of books that cover the
Fr Brett Williams addresses parishioners via Facebook video after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that places of worship may reopen. The Durban priest writes that he has been on a steep learning curve in utilising digital media since the coronavirus crisis began. But digital technology, he suggests, is the key to doing the New Evangelisation. (Screenshot from Facebook) “why” of the New Evangelisation—but very little that cover the “how”. Throughout its history, the Catholic Church has engaged challenges that have resulted from various cultural developments and advances—but perhaps it has turned to the new social media more slowly than other Christian communities. This present worldwide health crisis has challenged us—perhaps even forced us!—to embrace the new and different means available to us to extend the joy of our faith to people who live outside our parishes and on the peripheries of our society.
my toe into “new media”, such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube, livestreaming and Instagram. At least the crisis quickly put paid to any of my reluctance; I had no choice if I was going to pastor my community. But I was still totally unequipped or trained for the sudden change to new methods of communication. It was fortunate that I belong to the Divine Renovation Network and use Alpha as our primary tool of evangelisation, because both organisations were able to provide assistance and guidance through toolkits and amazing webinars,
and fast, in situ training! The longer we do this—and I am totally convinced that we will never go back to “normal” and things will never be how they were in the past—the more I realise that we can and indeed are still Church. The “how” does not define us. The “why” that comes from Jesus’ Great Commission (Mt 28:19-20) and the presence of the Holy Spirit which Jesus first sent on his Church on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13) is what defines us as a Church. And more importantly a Church with a mission!
I would recommend to all those priests and pastors who are uncertain or afraid of leaping into this new way of ministry, that they throw out all their excuses for not using new media and mobilise evangelisers to bring people to Jesus. There are so many people and organisations willing to help you create content and launch it online to engage your community and others outside, so as to make your parish an exciting hub of God’s life and love, just as he meant them to be. The next generation of parishioners is growing up online. They tweet and text from their smartphones while reading books and watching movies on their iPads and eReaders. For the Church to reach this generation—and our people today in this crisis—we all need to be on the digital continent that Pope Benedict XVI spoke about. It is worth it. I have seen how people have responded and how our engagement with one another and with the Gospel has grown exponentially. The Holy Spirit is never limited by our ways and methods. The Holy Spirit is certainly guiding us along these new and different ways and creating wide vistas of opportunity and new mission fields. n Fr Brett Williams is the parish priest of St Joseph’s church in Morningside, Durban. This article was first published on www.southafrica.alpha.org
World of false encounters Men and women today increasingly find themselves online, and many of these are lost in a world of false encounter. They often feel alone, unsatisfied, unhappy, and certainly removed from the life of the Church. In his 2014 World Communications Day Message, Pope Francis called the Internet “a gift from God” through which “the Christian message can reach to the ends of the earth”. Catholics must be present there, inviting those who are lost and who are seeking a new and better way, in. I believe that if we remember what Fr Weston said, then we will create parishes that are able to embrace new media and modern technology, and we will have found ways to open doors to welcome our brothers and sisters into an encounter with Christ and his Church. For me, this has been the major highlight of having church online. My greatest challenge (or obstacle) has been that I had received no training in these new methods. I had received all my training in “old media” (parish bulletins and notice boards, announcements, plus e-mails and a few WhatsApp groups). But I had been reluctant to put
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10
The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2020
HOLY LAND
The town of Jesus’ birth In part 3 of our virtual pilgrimage to the Holy Land, we go with GüNTHer SIMMerMACHer to Bethlehem, the town of Our Lord’s birth.
W
E encounter the imagery every year in December when our minds turn to that great event in the little town of Bethlehem 2 000 years ago. But the idea of fully-booked inns and undignified wooden stables probably doesn’t correspond with the truth. Jesus was likely born in a cave, as the early Christian apologist Justin Martyr (100-165) wrote. The cave would have been chosen for warmth, tranquillity and safety when alternative accommodation was unavailable. It might have been part of a domestic residence, perhaps a house built in front of or above a cave, divided into living quarters for humans and at the back an area for animals and storage (such structures exist in Bethlehem and elsewhere even today). When Luke says that Mary put down the newborn Christ in a manger because there were no vacant lodgings, then this might simply mean that the part of the home inhabited by humans was full, and the hosts let Mary give birth in the section used to keep the animals. And perhaps they did so because that part was the warmest and quietest place in their home.
Church of the Nativity The location of Jesus’ birth was venerated by the earliest Christians. The reputed spot of the birth of Jesus is marked with a 14point silver star in the crypt of the basilica of the Nativity, one of the world’s oldest active churches. In the 2nd century, the Romans built pagan structures over the sites associated with Christ’s birth in Bethlehem and his death and Resurrection in Jerusalem (whether they did so out of expedience or as a means of suppressing Christian veneration is a matter of ongoing debate). We ought to thank them for that, because they conveniently signposted these places for later generations of Christians. So when Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, came to Bethlehem, she had the pagan groves dedicated to Adonis torn down and replaced them with a church. Construction for the first church of the Nativity began in 327. It was dedicated to Mary on May 31, 339. That church was burnt down by the Samaritans in 529. Mosaics from the floor of the original church have been preserved and can still be viewed. Their restoration forms part of an ongoing renovation of the church which has already yielded spectacular results. Older pilgrims may be surprised to know that the church’s brown pillars, once cleaned, revealed frescoes beneath the centuries-old soot. The present structure, much larger than its predecessor, was
From left: The church of the Nativity in Bethlehem • Mass in St Catherine’s church • Pilgrims in a cave at Shepherds’ Field, just outside Bethlehem. (All photos: Günther Simmermacher) built in 565 on the order of Emperor Justinian. It might have gone the sorry way of most churches during the Persian sacking of 614, had the invaders’ general, Shahrbaraz, not spotted mosaics of the Magi in Persian dress on the church’s walls. Touched by what he understood to be a show of respect for his people, Shahrbaraz spared the church. The structure also escaped destruction during the vicious persecution of 1009 by the mad caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who had the church of the Holy Sepulchre razed. Bethlehem’s Muslims refused to execute Hakim’s order because they had been allowed to use the southern transept of the church ever since the conquest of 638. Under Crusader rule, the church flourished, but after their defeat the Muslim rulers allowed repairs only infrequently and tolerated acts of vandalism and looting. The 15th-century pilgrim Felix Fabri described the church’s interior as “a barn without hay, an apothecary’s without aromatic pots, a library without books”.
The spot of Christ’s birth Today, pilgrims may have to queue for a while to enter the grotto of the Nativity. Once one gets to the silver star there isn’t much time for prayer and reflection as pilgrims are rushed along. The grotto’s décor has a rather gaudy appearance to those of more temperate tastes. It seems to have underwhelmed throughout the ages. St Jerome (c.347-420), who translated the Bible into Latin
while cooped up in a nearby cave ties in the adjacent church of St (where Mass can be celebrated), Catherine of Alexandria, from complained: “If I could only see which the annual Christmas Midthat manger in which the Lord lay! night Mass is televised around the Now, as if to honour the Christ, we world. The church is built on the site have removed the poor one and placed there a silver one; however, of Christ’s reputed appearance to for me the one which was removed the youthful martyr St Catherine of Alexandria (hence the is more precious.” church’s name; the famous And the 19th-cenmonastery on Mount Sinai tury US author Mark The hopeful in Egypt is also named Twain, admittedly a cynic about grottos and mother and after her). A monastery founded pious devotions, observed: “The grotto was her husband by St Jerome stood on the tricked out in the usual must drink the site in the 5th century and a Crusader monastery in tasteless style observable in all the holy powdered the 12th century; remains of both still exist. places of Palestine.” The church is first menThe church of the stone mixed tioned in the 15th cenNativity, and the battle with milk or tury. It was enlarged by between Catholic and the Franciscans in 1881. Orthodox custodianwater for From St Catherine’s ship of Holy Land church one enters several shrines in general, nine days crypts that are located beserved as one of the neath the church of the triggers for the Crimean War of 1853-56, which Nativity, including the tombs of St pitted Russia against France, Jerome (as well as his study), his Britain, Sardinia and the Ottoman successor St Eusebius, and St Paula and her daughter Eustochium. Empire. Of course, the real issues were There are also chapels dedicated to much bigger than control of the St Joseph and to the Holy InnoHoly Land, and the question of cents. The Franciscan cloister outside custody was just a proxy. Today the church of the Nativ- the church, a lovely place of ity is co-owned by the Catholic, respite from the bustle inside the Greek Orthodox and Armenian church of the Nativity, was restored in 1948 by the great archiChurches. tect Antonio Barluzzi, who used St Catherine’s church columns and capitals from the Since the Greek Orthodox 12th-century monastery. Church is in charge of all the best Presiding over the cloister’s spots in the church of the Nativity, courtyard is a large statue of St including the grotto, the Catholic Jerome; there is also a statue of St Church conducts its liturgical, Catherine, often mistaken to be of sacramental and parochial activi- the Blessed Virgin, on top of the church’s façade.
The Milk Grotto
The Milk Grotto in Bethlehem, where tradition says the Holy Family hid during the Massacre of the Innocents.
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Just a short walk from Manger Square, where the church of the Nativity is located, is the Magharet Sitti Mariam (Grotto of the Lady Mary), better known as the Milk Grotto. Tradition has it that the Holy Family took refuge in this cave during the massacre of the Innocents before fleeing to Egypt. While Mary was nursing the infant Jesus, the story goes, a drop of milk fell to the ground, turning the grotto white. Geologists might point out, backed by basic science, that the type of chalk stone here tends to be naturally white, but the pious soul will refer to the long-standing tradition—and that of the Milk Grotto goes back a long way. St Paula built the first church here in the 5th century. For many centuries Christian and Muslim women have believed that ground powder from the grotto’s rock mixed in water boosts both fertility and the production of breast milk. Hopeful and new mothers come from afar to let the stone and prayers to Our Lady work miracles—and reams of photos and testimonies suggest that for many of these pilgrims, pregnancy did indeed follow. In Catholic tradition both the hopeful mother and her husband must drink the powder mixed with milk or water for nine days and re-
cite the prayer of the third joyful mystery of the rosary. Pilgrims can no longer chip off pieces of stone for use as a fertility drug, but the Franciscans put some of the powder in small packets which they give to people for a small donation. Apparently they have blocked off a section of the cave to ensure that supplies don’t run out. Catholics of delicate sensibilities are counselled to avert their eyes from the images displayed here which portray the Blessed Virgin breastfeeding the Holy Infant (I mention this since my late colleague Eugene Donnelly once got into hot water with some readers for reproducing such an image in The Southern Cross). There is also a tradition, going back to the seventh century, that the bones of the Holy Innocents are buried here.
Where the angels sang Just outside modern Bethlehem, in the Christian village of Beit Sahour, is Shepherds’ Field, where Catholics recall the angelic announcement of the Messiah’s birth to the shepherds (Luke 2:8-10). Near the light, tent-shaped church, built in 1954 by Barluzzi, is a cave with a soot-blackened ceiling in which the shepherds dwelled that first Christmas (and if they didn’t dwell in this particular cave, then they did so in a cave just like it). It is a popular place for Mass, though it can get quite hot in the warmer months, so there is relief in the form of shaded open-air chapels on the site. God’s choice of shepherds as the first recipients of the Good News is significant. Shepherds were on the lowest rung of the social ladder. And yet God did not call on the mayor or the cream of the religious establishment to witness the birth of the Saviour, but on smelly, coarse workers. Three decades later, God had women—who had no social or even legal standing at the time— announce the news of Jesus’ Resurrection. The message is clear: Christ’s Church includes especially the disempowered and the unkempt, the oppressed and the powerless. God is telling us on whose side he is, and on whose side we must be. n This is an edited extract from Günther Simmermacher’s The Holy Land Trek. Next week: The River Jordan.
The spot of Jesus’ birth
The Southern Cross, June 3 to June 9, 2020
YOUR CLASSIFIEDS
Sr Eleanor Wilkinson CSsR
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EDEMPTORISTINE Sister Eleanor Wilkinson died on May 13 in Missouri in the US at the age of 85. Sr Eleanor headed the Redemptorist community of four contemplative nuns in South Africa from 1991 until 2010. She was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, into a large and loving Catholic family on December 12, 1934. Her lovely voice—which remained with her almost to the end of her life—was fostered by her father, who played the organ at church, and the weekly singalongs the family enjoyed. Early on, she felt a call to be a contemplative nun—to give her life in prayer and praise. A Redemptorist visiting their parish told her about the Redemptoristines, so she and her mother went to the monastery in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, in 1954. Sr Eleanor said that she knew this was the place God was calling her to as soon as she stepped in the front door. She made vows and received the name Sr Mary Julia of the Divine Word (Julia after the foundress) in 1957. A foundation was established in Liguori, Missouri, in the US, in April 1960, and Sr Eleanor was shocked when she was chosen as novice mistress, a delegated job usually reserved for a Sister who had been professed longer. She often mentioned how
grateful she was for the wise spiritual guidance given by Fr Donald Miller during those confusing times of religious life right after Vatican II. When a new foundation was established in the South African Province in 1991, Sr Eleanor was selected as founder, and was sent with Sr Alice. Archbishop Denis Hurley and his successor Archbishop Wilfrid Napier welcomed them to Bergville, at the foot of the Drakensberg bordering Lesotho. As Sr Eleanor saw the shepherds leading their sheep along the mountains, she thought of the ideal name for the new monastery: Jesus, the Wayfarer. For their remunerative work, the Sisters mounted icon prints on wood. The Redemptorists
used these plaques during their missions, and people bought them and proudly hung them in their homes. The favourite one was Our Mother of Perpetual Help, which has an association with the Redemptorists. “Contemplative” was not a common word for the local people, so they called the Redemptoristines the “Church Ladies, the Ladies that Pray”. It was a deep sorrow for Sr Eleanor when lack of vocations and health issues brought the foundation to an end in August 2010. The following year, having returned to the US, she was elected prior at Liguori. Her commitment was always strong, and community life and interest in her Sisters was blended with compassion, prayer and a listening ear. Sr Eleanor’s influence was great through her many years as prior and formator. If she felt God was asking her to do something, she went forth in his will, accepting whatever charge the community gave her and doing her very best. Several times, she was appointed to international Redemptoristine meetings. Sr Eleanor’s earthly life ended in the same spirit that guided her through her 60-plus years of religious profession: I am here, Lord, to do your will. She was buried in the Redemptorist cemetery in Liguori. By Sr Ann Marie CSsR
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Southern CrossWord solutions
Our bishops’ anniversaries
SOLUTIONS TO 918. ACROSS: 3 Tall order, 8 Omri, 9 Discredit, 10 Devoid, 11 Ember, 14 Medic, 15 Dome, 16 Hades, 18 Etna, 20 Eased, 21 Tiber, 24 Belloc, 25 Seclusion, 26 Amen, 27 Prospects. DOWN: 1 Condemned, 2 Provident, 4 Amid, 5 Locum, 6 Reeled, 7 Evil, 9 Ditch, 11 Elder, 12 Roast lamb, 13 Mendicant, 17 Seven, 19 Aisles, 22 Ensue, 23 Seer, 24 Boat.
This week we congratulate: June 7: Bishop Frank Nubuasah of Gaborone, Botswana, on his 71st birthday June 7: Bishop Xolelo Thaddeus Kumalo of Eshowe on the 12th anniversary of his episcopal ordination
FROM OUR VAULTS 91 Years Ago: June 5, 1929
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PRAYERS
GOOD MORNING GOD. You are ushering in another day, untouched and freshly new. So here I am to ask you, God, if you'll renew me too. Forgive the many er-
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rors that I made yesterday and let me try again, dear God, to walk closer in your way. But Lord, I am well aware, I can't make it on my own. So take my hand and hold it tight, for I cannot walk alone. 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, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. God does nothing in vain. He knows what he is about. John Henry Newman
Back to normal in un-normal times Continued from page 7 via video chat and encouraging messages on social media? How can we find this perfect Trinitarian unity in a country divided by politics, controversies and conspiracies? How do we find normality in a life lived in lockdown or a fearful venturing out into the world for work, school, and grocery shopping? Without the Eucharistic presence and unable to hug and kiss our loved ones, how do we remain whole? I wonder whether that was not the experience of the early disciples too. I imagine that the day-to-day life of building up the Church was probably mundane and ordinary. They experienced mindblowing emotions and saw incredible things as they walked and lived with Jesus for three years. But with time, the joy of Resurrection, the marvel of the Ascension, and the awe of Pentecost becomes a memory to be drawn on for encouragement of faith. Instead of speaking in tongues and breaking open prison gates, the disciples had very real everyday challenges: appointing people to distribute food, worrying about the stewardship of fi-
nances, identifying leaders in each of the new communities, providing pastoral care to the new converts, dealing with interpersonal problems, and facing off against political rulers and religious leaders who felt threatened by the young Church. The early Church Fathers didn’t have any special gifts. Like us, they were ordinary men and women who discerned that they had been called by God. They had seen God. They had spoken to him. They had walked with him. That experience made it possible to trudge through the mundane, the ordinary. The same is true for us. Every year, we are taken on an incredible journey of encounter with the God of life. It is the food that prepares us for and nourishes us in the ordinariness of daily life. Perhaps that is even truer now that the distractions of our modern life have been stripped away and our existence has become very domestic. The perfect place to rebuild the Church of Christ. n For previous columns by Sarah-Leah Pimentel, go to www.scross.co.za/cate gory/perspectives/sarah-leah-pimentel/
Eucharistic Congress in Durban The Southern Cross describes the historic Eucharistic Congress in Durban as an “unprecedented pageant of the Royal Christ, [a] flaming evidence of Catholic love, honour and devotion”. Delegates to the congress arrived by ship and motor car, and many laity opened their homes to “these servants of God”. The congress climaxed on Sunday with a procession as 11 000 Catholics escorting the Holy Eucharist through the streets of Durban to the Albert Park Oval before the closing Mass was celebrated in Emmanuel cathedral.
Indulgence from Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI wrote and signed a letter dated May 3 to give Bishop Henry Delalle of Durban permission to impart papal blessings to those present at the Eucharistic Congress, “granting them, under the usual conditions, a plenary for the sins duly confessed”.
Liturgical Calendar Year A – Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday June 7, Trinity Sunday Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9, Responsorial psalm Daniel 3:29-31, 33, 32, 34 (3, 52-56), 2 Corinthians 13:11-13, John 3:16-18 Monday June 8 1 Kings 17:1-6, Psalm 121:1-8, Matthew 5:1-12
Our friend, the bishop The Southern Cross congratulates Durban’s Bishop Henri Delalle, “a friend and staunch supporter of this paper”, on his 25th anniversary of episcopal ordination.
Editorial: No bare legs at Wimbledon In his editorial, Mgr John Morris commends the ban on “stockingless lady tennis players” at Wimbledon. “Why will women not understand that the more they discard their clothes, the more hideous and ridiculous they appear?” the editorial demands to know.
The Body and Blood of Christ
Tuesday June 9, St Ephrem 1 Kings 17:7-16, Psalm 4:2-5, 7-8, Matthew 5:13-16 Wednesday June 10 1 Kings 18:20-39, Psalm 16:1-2, 4-5, 8, 11, Matthew 5:17-19 Thursday June 11, Our Lord Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest Genesis 22:9-18, Psalm 40:7-11, 17, Matthew 26:36-42 Friday June 12, St Onophrius 1 Kings 19:9, 11-16, Psalm 27:7-9, 1314, Matthew 5:27-32 Saturday June 13, St Anthony of Padua 1 Kings 19:19-21, Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-10, Matthew 5:33-37 Sunday June 14, The Body and Blood of Christ Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16, Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20, 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, John 6:51-58
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CORPUS CHRISTI (June 14) Readings: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16; Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 John 6:51-58 EXT Sunday we celebrate the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (transfered from June 11). How are we to speak of this remarkable mystery? One thing that we can do is to listen to the readings that the Church lays before us on the day, and to hear the unfailing love of God that is at the heart of the gift of the Eucharist. The first reading is a reminder of the generosity of God that the people experienced in the desert, those 40 years: “Remember the whole way that the Lord your God made you walk in…to humble you and test you, and to know what is in your heart.” Then Moses’ hearers are taken back to God’s generosity at that time, “when he made you eat manna which you had not known, and nor had your fathers known, that humans do not live on bread alone, but on all that comes out of the mouth of the Lord”. And the point is that they are not to forget the generosity of God “who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery”, and “who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock”. The psalm for next Sunday plays the same theme: “Glorify the Lord, Jerusalem, praise your God, O Zion, for he has strengthened the bars of your gates, blessed your children
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S outher n C ross
Munch the bread of life
Nicholas King SJ
within you.” And it is God to whom we are to look to give us the political stability we long for, “who has placed peace on your borders, filled you with finest wheat”. This is a God who gives unendingly: “He proclaims his word to Jacob and his commands and decrees to Israel.” And the psalmist is aware of God’s special care for his people: “He has not acted like this for all other nations; his decrees they do not know—Halleluiah!” In the second reading, where Paul is dealing with questions that the Corinthians have placed before him with regard to the question of food that has been previously offered to idols, and whether it is permissible for Christians to eat such stuff (it was a way of getting cheap protein). Paul emphasises the importance of remembering where their solidarity lies. So he gets them to think about the Eucharist (as we are doing on this feast-day): “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a solidarity [or “fellowship” or “communion”] with the blood of Christ?” That is of course a reminder of Jesus’ costly generosity in leaving the Eucharist to us, and so he goes on, “and the bread which we break is a solidarity with the body of Christ”.
generosity is a matter of life and death, it appears. And he goes on, in somewhat cruder language: “The one who munches my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life.” Then he brings in the Resurrection that is at the heart of our faith: “And I shall raise up that person on the Last Day.” Just in case we have not yet got it, he goes on: “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink: the one who munches my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in that person.” Life and mission belong together: “As the Living Father sent me, and as I live because of the Father, so will the one who munches me live because of me.” Then the Eucharistic teaching is summed up, in words that we shall do well to remember as we celebrate this great solemnity: “This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the ancestors ate [and they died]; the one who munches this loaf will live forever.” That is something for us to reflect on, this week.
Then we discover the spectacular implication of the gift of the Eucharist, that we are united: “Because there is one loaf of bread, it is one body to which we who are many belong.” And why is this? Because “we all share from the one loaf of bread”. It is a powerful image to which we shall do well to pay attention as we celebrate the feast. Then the Gospel comes from nearly the end of the great sixth chapter of John’s Gospel: Jesus’ great discourse on the “Bread of Life”. Jesus starts this portion with one of his great “I AM” sayings: “I AM the living bread that came down from heaven: if a person eats of this bread, they will live for ever.” So we are invited to understand the generosity of this great gift to us: “The bread that I shall give is my flesh for the sake of the world.” But this generosity is not easy to understand, and Jesus’ hearers start fighting over the meaning of the words: “How can this person give us his flesh to eat?” Put as crudely as that, it sounds fairly repellent, it must be admitted. So we listen to Jesus’ response: “Amen, amen I’m telling you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you do not have life in you.” So this eucharistic
The Our Father, as best we can A
the best I can do. Maybe it’s a bare minimum and I should do more and try to concentrate harder, but at least I do that. And sometimes it’s all I can do—but I do it every day, as best I can. It’s the prayer Jesus told us to pray. His words might sound simplistic and minimalistic. Indeed the Church challenges us to make the Eucharist the centre of our prayer lives and to make a daily habit of meditation and private prayer. Also, many classical spiritual writers tell us that we should set aside an hour every day for private prayer, and many contemporary spiritual writers challenge us to practise centering prayer or some other form of contemplative prayer daily.
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here does that leave our old Augustinian theologian and his counsel that we pray one sincere Our Father each day—as best we can? Well, none of this goes against what he so humbly shared. He would be the first to agree that the Eucharist should be the centre of our prayer lives, and he would agree as well with both the classical spiritual writers who advise an hour of private prayer a day, and the contemporary authors who challenge us to do some form of contemplative prayer daily, or at least habitually. But he would say this: At one of those times in the day (ideally at the Eucharist or while praying the Office of the
Conrad
T the risk of being simplistic, I want to say something about prayer in a very basic way. While doing doctoral studies, I had a professor, an elderly Augustine priest, who in his demeanour, speech and attitude radiated wisdom and maturity. Everything about him bespoke integrity. You immediately trusted him, the wise old grandfather of storybooks. One day in class he spoke of his own prayer life. As with everything else he shared, there were no filters, only honesty and humility. I don’t recall his exact words, but I remember well the essence of what he said and it has stayed with me for the nearly 40 years since I had the privilege of being in his class. Here’s what he shared: prayer isn’t easy because we’re always tired, distracted, busy, bored, and caught up in so many things that it’s hard to find the time and energy to centre ourselves on God for a few moments. So, this is what I do: no matter what my day is like, no matter what’s on my mind, no matter what my distractions and temptations are, I am faithful to this: Once a day I pray the Our Father as best I can from where I am at that moment. Inside of everything that’s going on inside me and around me that day, I pray the Our Father, asking God to hear me from inside all the distractions and temptations that are besetting me. It’s
Final Reflection
Church, but at least sometime during your day) when you’re saying the Our Father, pray it with as much sincerity and focus as you can muster at the moment (“as best you can”) and know that, no matter your distractions at the moment, it’s what God is asking from you. And it’s enough. His advice has stayed with me through the years, and though I say a number of Our Fathers every day, I try, at least in one of them, to pray the Our Father as best I can, fully conscious of how badly I am doing it. What a challenge and what a consolation! The challenge is to pray an Our Father each day, as best we can. As we know, that prayer is deeply communitarian. Every petition in it is plural—“our”, “we”, “us”. There’s no “I” in the Our Father. Moreover, all of us are priests from our baptism and inherent in the covenant we made then, we are asked daily to pray for others, for the world. For those who cannot participate in the Eucharist daily and for those who do not pray the Office of the Church, praying the Our Father is your Eucharistic prayer, your priestly prayer for others. And this is the consolation: none of us is divine. We’re all incurably human. This means that many times—perhaps most times—when we’re trying to pray, we’ll find ourselves beset with everything from tiredness, to boredom, to impatience, to planning tomorrow’s agenda, to sorting through the hurts of the day, to stewing about who we’re angry at, to dealing with erotic fantasies. Our prayer seldom issues forth from a pure heart but normally from a very earthy one. But, and this is the point, its very earthiness is also its real honesty. Our restless, distracted heart is also our existential heart and is the existential heart of the world. When we pray from there, we are (as the classical definition of prayer would have it) lifting mind and heart to God. Try, each day, to pray one sincere Our Father! As best you can!
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ACROSS
3. Unreasonable demand for high society of monks? (4,5) 8. King of Israel in Samaria (2 Kings 16) (4) 9. Direct Sid and bring him harm (9) 10. I’ve odd turn and am entirely lacking (6) 11. Easter fire dying out at month’s end (5) 14. Famed Iceland doctor found inside (5) 15. Cathedral vault (4) 16. Shade around hell (5) 18. Some let Nature show the place of eruption (4) 20. Made the Fast less severe (5) 21. The flower of Rome (5) 24. Catholic author in libel lockdown (6) 25. The state of a holy hermit (9) 26. Let it be the last word (4) 27. Opportunities for success (9)
DOWN
1. Kind of cell on Death Row (9) 2. Be ready for the future (9) 4. See … the Winter’s Snow (Christmas carol) (4) 5. One in an acting position (5) 6. Danced and staggered (6) 7. From which we pray to be delivered (4) 9. Get rid of the trench (5) 11. Churchman who may not be the oldest (5) 12. Meal for Passover (Ex 12) (5,4) 13. Monk who depends on alms (9) 17. Sacraments in number (5) 19. Passages in the place of worship (6) 22. Happen afterwards (5) 23. One who makes the future visible (4) 24. On a cushion Jesus slept on it (Lk 4) (4)
Solutions on page 11
CHURCH CHUCKLE
I
t was a sunny day up Caesarea Philippi way when Jesus asked the disciples: “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples answered: “Some say you are John the Baptist; others say Elijah, or one of the prophets.” Jesus answered: “But who do you say that I am?” Peter raised his hand and answered: “You are the Logos, existing in the Father as his rationality and then, by an act of his will, being generated, in consideration of the various functions by which God is related to his creation, but only on the fact that Scripture speaks of a Father, and a Son, and a Holy Spirit, each member of the Trinity being coequal with every other member, and each acting inseparably with and interpenetrating every other member, with only an economic subordination within God, but causing no division which would make the substance no longer simple.” And Jesus looked at St Peter and said: “What?”
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