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S outher n C ross

Centenary Jubilee Year September 2 to September 8, 2020

Bishop: Beware ‘Republic of Corruption’

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Meet the actors in new Fatima film

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 5201

R12 (incl VAT RSA)

Evidence: Mass is safe with precautions

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SA bishops to meet pope in May 2021 T

HE bishops of Southern Africa will travel to Rome next May to meet with Pope Francis and heads of Vatican dicasteries to report on the state of the Church in their dioceses and pastoral territories, and tell the pontiff about their concerns as shepherds of the Church in the region.

The bishops of a particular territory are required to make ad limina visits to the Vatican every five years. But given the tighter papal schedules—there are currently 3 017 dioceses, prelatures and vicariates globally—the period between these visits tends to be extended.

The last ad limina visit by the bishops of Southern Africa took place in April 2014, at the time of the canonisations of Ss John XXIII and John Paul II. Previous to that, the Southern African bishops had met with Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.

For several bishops, the May 21 to June 2 ad limina visit will be their first: Bishops Victor Phalana of Klerksdorp, Duncan Tsoke of Johannesburg (auxiliary), Siegfried Mandla Jwara of Ingwavuma, David Sylvester of Cape Town (auxiliary), Joseph Mary Kizito of Aliwal North, and Noel Andrew Rucastle of Oudtshoorn.

Traditionally, the secretary-general of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), currently Precious Blood Sister Hermenegild Makoro, accompanies the bishops on their ad limina visit.

The term ad limina apostolorum means “to the threshold of the apostles”, which requires bishops making such visits to pray at the tombs of St Peter and St Paul.

In 2014, a group of Southern Cross pilgrims joined the SACBC bishops at their

The Sisters and novices of the Daughters of St Francis of Assisi in Izotsha, Umzimkulu diocese, joined the global #JerusalemaChallenge craze of dancing to the gospel-house song “Jerusalema” by South African DJ and producer Master KG (Facebook link). The song has become a global hit. See page 3 for an article on the Dominican Sisters of Montebello taking part in the #JerusalemaChallenge.

Pope Francis with the SACBC bishops during their last ad limina visit in 2014.

(Photo: L’Osservatore Romano/CNS)

Pope audience public again

Mass at St Paul’s tomb in the basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls.

Each bishop will present a “quinquennial report” on the state of their diocese, outlining its activities and challenges in several chapters. These may address issues concerning the liturgical and sacramental life of the local Church, Catholic education, evangelisation, social communications, social justice, finances, and so on.

The bishops will presumably present the pope and the Vatican departments with the new pastoral plan, “Evangelising Community: Serving God, Humanity and Creation”, which was launched in January.

When the bishops made their ad limina in 2014, they raised such issues as human trafficking, the need for pastoral role models, the sainthood cause of Bl Benedict Daswa (who was beatified the following year), the inculturation of the faith, and various pastoral concerns.

The SACBC confirmed that the ad limina would take place but offered no further information.

M

EMBERS of the public will be able to attend Pope Francis’ general audiences again from September 2 after an almost six-month absence due to the coronavirus crisis.

The prefecture of the Papal Household announced that the pope’s September 2 general audience next Wednesday would take place “with the presence of the faithful”.

It said that audiences would be held in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace throughout September, following advice from authorities seeking to restrict the spread of the coronavirus.

General audiences are usually held in either St Peter’s Square or the Paul VI Audience Hall. But when the pandemic struck Italy in March, the pope transferred his general audiences to the library of the Apostolic Palace, where they took place without public access.

The first livestreamed general audience from the library took place on March 11.

The Holy See press office said that the decision was “necessary in order to avoid the risk of the spread of Covid-19 due to the

Swiss Guards in the Vatican’s San Damaso courtyard. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) gathering of people during security controls for access to the square, as requested by the Italian authorities”.

The prefecture noted that general audiences in September would start at 9:30 and would be “open to all those who wish, without the need for tickets”.

Those attending will be admitted to the courtyard from 7:30 via the Bronze Doors, located under the right-hand colonnade in St Peter’s Square.—CNA

How parishes can earn with us!

As you will have seen by now, The Southern Cross will relaunch as a magazine in late September — in print and digitally.

We are very excited about the magazine, which will sell for only R30, and we are certain that many Catholics will be interested in this new publication with a proud history.

And for parishes and sodalities and organisations who sell The Southern Cross magazine in their communities we have more good news:

For every magazine sold, we give a commission of R5,00.

Of course we are aware that nobody knows when parishes can return to holding their full schedule of Masses. But we could not delay the launch of The Southern Cross magazine any further — the alternative was to close the

publication down altogether.

So we need help in the parishes and sodalities to make sure the printed magazine gets into people’s hands. This is a matter of keeping The Southern Cross alive!

PROF MICAEL OGUNU: Spread the Good News!

VOCATIONS: The lay experience

CATHOLIC TRIVIA QUIZ: What do you know?

Southern Cross We Are Here!

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The Catholic Magazine for Southern Africa

We are asking parishes to stock The Southern Cross magazine, and make it known to parishioners through your various channels of communication, like Facebook and WhatsApp: to spread the word about the magazine and to encourage parishioners to order theirs.

FOR YOUR WALL: ST TERESA OF AVILA POSTER

They could fetch it from your parish office while we wait for Masses to resume, or maybe a kind parishioner might drop copies off at the homes of those who can’t or shouldn’t come out.

October 2020

R30 (incl. VAT in SA)

GREAT CATHOLICS: THE PIONEER MARY SEACOLE

Or parishes could appoint one of their ministries (like the ushers) or sodalities or the SVP to take charge of making sure that all parishioners who would like the magazine will get it.

Maybe even YOU might volunteer to get together a group of people from your parish to make sure there’ll be a Catholic magazine in as many Catholic homes as possible.

The possibilities to help keep The Southern Cross alive are endless!

Is the magazine the end of Catholic news? Of course not: our website and Facebook page will continue to bring the latest news.

And what will feature in the magazine? Well, an array of articles relating to all things

Catholic: faith and society, interviews, personalities, burning questions, travel, prayer, millennials, family, education, spiritual reflections, a pull-out poster of a Saint of the Month, as well as fun stuff like the popular crossword, wordsearch, trivia quiz, and much more...

We are taking orders already so that we can get the magazine to you by the beginning of October. Parishes and sodalities/organisations/shops can order copies for sale by emailing admin@scross.co.za or calling Pamela on 083 233-1956.

Remember, the cover price is R30, including VAT and we are offering R5 to the parish as commission for every copy sold. You will not be charged for any unsold copies!

The future of our Southern Cross is in your hands! PLEASE help us get the new magazine out there.

2

The Southern Cross, September 2 to September 8, 2020

LOCAL

SACBC’s Sr Makoro insists: R350 Covid-19 Sassa

Let women breathe!

A DDRESSING a digital Day of Prayer of the South African Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations, Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS said that it isn’t God who has abandoned us, but humanity that has abandoned God. “Our world is ruled by greed and materialism. On a global scale, the rich are getting richer while the poor are being oppressed more and more,” said Sr Makoro, secretarygeneral of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

“We have destroyed God’s creation—the very matrix that sustains us and within which we live. Even the Holy Father has said that the increase in diseases and the emergence of new pandemics cannot be separated from the destruction and poisoning of our global environment,” she noted.

“But we remain people of hope,” said the Precious Blood Sister. “I believe that this prayer day has been organised as a response to our faith and hope that God will never leave us alone.”

Sr Makoro was speaking on the theme, “I can’t breathe”, which echoes the words of US police violence victim George Floyd.

“Breath is the very substance of God,” she told the participants. “It is the substance of life. It is the Holy Spirit. In many of our languages— for instance in isiZulu—the word for breath and spirit is the same: ‘Moya’,” she explained.

When breath leaves our bodies, we die. Hence the saying: “He/she breathed out her last breath.”

Referring to Covid-19 and the

Precious Blood Sister Hermenegild Makoro. new surge of gender-based violence, Sr Makoro told the meeting: “As women you are faced with great challenges during these hard times, of stress, loneliness and isolation.”

She said she was pained that in Women’s Month the focus is not on “about the beauty of being a woman”, but on the statistics of women who have been maimed, raped and killed.

“I would request that during this session as we look at challenges that make us cry, like George Floyd, ‘I can’t breathe’,” Sr Makoro said, but added: “We must remember the beauty of who we are as women and the important role we play in the Church and society in our families.”

She noted that because of the Covid-19 lockdown, “all visible signs of our unity as one body in

grant offers some relief

Christ have been obliterated, and we even feel cut off from the very source of life, and the presence of God—our breath”.

“Our churches are closed. Our physical unity is no more. Our breath has been cut off. As a consequence, we see evil flourishing,” Sr Makoro said, also noting an increase in mental health problems and suicide.

She called on women to “be open to one another”, sharing difficulties and inner feelings without shame.

Noting that with the rise of social media, “people’s privacy has been invaded”, Sr Makoro called on women “to stop sharing things that block growth and life-giving, sharing about the labels of your dress, the kind of car you drive, the money you spent for your cosmetics—this blocks other women to say, ‘I can’t breathe.’”

The SACBC secretary-general observed that often “groups like women’s sodalities become ‘competing sites’ instead of being a sanctuary where women can share freely as they know they will be helped, listened to and given a chance to breathe”, she said, stressing the word “sanctuary”.

“You should be in a position to create that holy, safe space where every woman can stand naked in front of each other. Tell her story so that you can become her mouthpiece. Create a sanctuary where a fellow woman knows, ‘I am respected and taken seriously by all members’,” Sr Makoro said.

BY KIMBERLY MUTANDIRO

I

N various parts of the East Rand, long queues have been seen as dozens of unemployed youth waited to receive R350 Sassa Covid19 relief grants from the government.

Those waiting were happy to have qualified following recent reports of more than two million applicants having been rejected.

The money certainly came as a relief to many of the young people who say they have been sitting at home for years failing to find work with or without qualifications.

The large number of youths seen in queues only proved that the statistical numbers of unemployed young people in South Africa are indeed real.

From as early as 6:00, before shopping complexes open, many people were already waiting outside determined to receive the money.

Siphesihle Mahlangu from Tsakane Proper said she has been unable to find work since she finished college three years ago. Ms Mahlangu said she has lost count of how many CVs she has sent. To her, the R350 will make a great difference.

“The government has done well

in providing us with this grant.

Being unemployed is not easy. As we speak, there is no food at home.

As soon as l receive money l will buy some groceries to take home,” she said.

Others said the government should continue giving the grant in the post-lockdown period as joblessness is a long-term reality in the country.

“Surely the government sees how unemployment is a serious issue in the country. Unemployment grants should be given whether there is a pandemic or not,” said Martin Dlamini.

Mr Dlamini said he has been unemployed for more than five years.

He believes that unemployment is the reason why there is a high rate of crime among the youth.

“The youth need the full support of the government; more money should be invested in making sure that unemployed people in our country continue to receive grants,” he said.

“This may just be the solution to crime in our country,” Mr Mahlangu said. n This article is a shortened version of one first published on invisiblesto ries.org.za, the website of the SACBC’s Justice & Peace Commission.

Correction

Last week we published pictures of Grade 11 learners at Holy Family College in Durban, who shared their journeys of life in an open discussion in solidarity during religion classes. We incorrectely identified the college as being in Johannesburg. We apologise for the error.

HELP! MY GRANNY’S DOG IS A RACIST! “This book is a gift to South Africans”

Many of us are still recovering from the damage apartheid did to us. Crime and racist tendencies nourish one another and feed off each other. Read why Help, My Granny’s Dog Is a Racist proves this astonishing claim — and others too — that will make you cry or laugh or angry or at least embarrassed.

Written by Franciscan Paddy Noonan, author of the acclaimed They’re Burning the Churches.

What readers said:

David Sadie, director, Imsimbi Training: The book should be compulsory reading in our schools, helping to create a solid foundation for our united rainbow nation.

Albert Nolan OP, theologian and best-selling author: For those white people who cannot understand why black people react so strongly at even the slightest sign of racism today, this book will be a real eye-opener. Anyone interested in the real meaning of racism today would do well to read this book.

Rev Gift Moerane, ecumenist and Executive Mayor, Emfuleni: This easy-to-read book provides invaluable information and points of referencing for any national dialogue or public debate on social cohesion and even reconciliation. The questions at the end of each chapter in the new

edition will be of great help to readers, teachers and educators. I recommend Help! My Granny’s Dog is a Racist as a resource manual for ideas on national reconciliation and nation building. Its timing is overdue.

RM Mogane, paediatrician, St Anne's Sodality, Gauteng: I believe we blacks have much to learn from these pages. I never knew what white people were feeling or going through in the ’80s when apartheid was falling asunder. This book offers compelling suggestions for group discussions in parish groups and schools.

Fr Mokesh Kantilal Morar, Young Christian Students organiser: With many people, even within the Churches, in a state of denial, amnesia or lethargy, this essential book comes at the right time.

Terry Oakley-Smith, Thought leader and commentator on diversity: I recommend this book for all South Africans who want to play a role in bringing our fractured unequal lives together.

Kenneth N Lukuko, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, Cape Town: This small volume opens for us in a most original and sometimes moving manner a thoughtful journey of discovery which points towards social cohesion, a common humanity, and ultimately even reconciliation. It should draw widespread circulation in government and church schools and institutes of educational.

John Allen Green OFM, writer and former chaplain to the Knights of De Gama: The story of Ruth and her inner journey of discovery of the nonsense she grew up ac-

cepting should be the basis of a play; compelling, thought-provoking, tearful and sometimes infuriating. It has all the makings of a Broadway hit. The pertinent, sometimes humorous questions at the end of each chapter will add flavour to the discussion. It is a story of hope! It is a book for our world and our time.

Didi Kgongoane, medical student: Help, My Granny’s Dog is a Racist! unveils the forgotten story of the opening of Catholic schools to all races, the secret persecution of South African clergy in the ’80s stretching as far as Washington, how other countries and individuals deal with reconciliation even today, and the struggles of the multi-cultural community of the early Church. Catholics don’t know these things! A perfect book gift.

Thank you, Fr Noonan!

AVAILABLE from Catholic bookshops, Amazon and Write-On Publishing: frank@writeonpublishing.co.za or writeonpublishing.co.za or tel: Trudy 076 416 1808 See also: www.patricknoonanbooks.org.za or read the review

The Southern Cross, September 2 to September 8, 2020

LOCAL

3

Bishop: SA at risk of being a ‘Republic of Corruption’

BY AGNES AINEAH

A

LEADING bishop has bemoaned increasing reports of corruption, warning that South Africa is at a great risk of being referred to as a failed state and a “Republic of Corruption”.

In a statement, Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha noted that the country’s name is increasingly becoming synonymous with corruption.

According to Bishop Sipuka, who is also the president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), there is a feeling that South Africa is going towards the direction of being known for corruption “as Columbia is known for drugs, Mali for child soldiers, Nigeria for terrorist groups, Saudi Arabia for lack of women’s rights, and lately, Zimbabwe for human rights violations”.

He urged the people of God to refuse to let a corruption culture characterise the nation.

Referring to Heritage Day on September 24, the bishop warned that the heritage we pass on to the

next generation should not be that of corruption.

“In addition to the call not to let South Africa be known as a republic of sexual abuse and bashers of women, we must also be resolute in our refusal to let South Africa be known as a republic of corruption.”

He emphasised that his call was not intended to encourage grumbling among the people but to inspire everyone to act and to resist those who want the country to be defined by corruption.

“We must act against corruption because corruption is contrary to the values we stand for as Africans, as Christians and as a democratic country,” said Bishop Sipuka, who is also the first vicepresident of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar.

“As Africans we cherish the value of ubuntu and care, and corruption is an insult to these values because as Christians we believe in serving rather than being served, and corrupt leaders practise the exact opposite of this value,” the bishop said.

purpose of our work to phone family members and friends is corruption. To use the vehicle provided for the purpose of work for private trips and to make money is corruption,” the bishop pointed out.

“At a personal level it should haunt one when at the end of the day one enjoys a sumptuous meal and a comfortable bed in a cozy room and yet cannot say with a clear conscience that today enough work was done to earn one’s living,” Bishop Sipuka said.

“This is not only stealing from those who have entrusted resources to you, but it is also an insult to one’s dignity to eat without earning one’s food.”

The evil of corruption, he said, is that it results in common good objectives not being achieved, and with the majority of people not having their rights, which belong to them while a few “thugs” wrongfully get more than what they should.

“In short, corruption leads to injustice,” he said, adding, “This in turn leads to a sense of disgruntlement and lack of social cohesion. It leads to lack of trust in

“As democrats we hold the civil servants we elect accountable to us, but the corrupt leaders see themselves as accountable to no one,” he noted.

Bishop Sipuka lambasted the corrupt who get away with their offences.

“They get to avoid wearing orange overalls in jail and continue looting with impunity while they enjoy a life of opulence at the expense of poor people and to the detriment of the image and development of the country,” he said.

The bishop called for a deeper understanding of corruption, which he said is generally described as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”.

This understanding, he said, calls on all of us to evaluate how we use power, resources and trust assigned to us.

“The use of facilities meant for work for private gain is corruption,” Bishop Sipuka said.

“To come to the office and hang one’s jacket on the chair and leave the office to do one’s private business in town is corruption…to use the telephone provided for the

S outhern Cross

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new magazine Coming in September

The Catholic Magazine for Southern Africa

Among the Dominican Sisters who danced in the #JerusalemaChallenge were (from left) Sr Venancia Mthembu (a physiotherapist at King Edward Hospital), Sr Antonia Mdabe and Sr Emmerentia Ntombela (both teachers at Our Lady of the Rosary Secondary School).

The dancing nuns: Why we did the Jerusalema DALUXOLO MOLOANTOA

O

NE of the most heartwarming stories to come out of the lockdown is that of the #JerusalemaChallenge.

People across the world have been dancing their way through lockdown with the locally-brewed song “Jerusalema” by local dance music maestro Master KG. From China to Mexico, groups of workers, students and even the elderly have been posting their videos of dancing to the catchy gospel-dance song.

The #JerusalemaChallenge has been trending for about six weeks.

Among the most popular videos in South Africa is one choreographed by the Dominican Sisters of Montebello from the Montebello mission in Ndwendwe, just outside Durban.

Their video has been liked over 2 000 and shared over 3 000 times.

Sr Emmarentia Thembelihle, on whose Facebook page the video was posted, said that the idea for the video came when the nuns were contemplating a way in which they could show support for the people who work with Covid-19 patients.

“Our calling as Dominicans is that we work with the sick, so taking part in the Jerusalema challenge was a way of asking for God’s protection and guidance, and to guard us in this difficult time of the coronavirus pandemic,” she said.

An enduring symbol of the Dominican Sisters’ calling is the Montebello Hospital in Ndwendwe, founded in 1925 to uplift the stan-

dard of living and improve the health of the local communities.

Apart from their involvement in health, the nuns are also involved in education as teachers at the mission’s Our Lady of the Rosary Secondary School.

“The song itself has become a global phenomenon, and it gives us a sense of joy and excitement to go through the rhythm and the dance”, Sr Thembelihle said.

The nuns were taken by surprise at the video’s success. “We never thought that the video would trend as much as it did, and that people would love it as much as they did. It has touched so many hearts, and we believe that this was another way of preaching the word of God to his people,” she said.

Of the eight Sisters who participated in the video, the oldest was Sr Thembelihle, who is 45, and the youngest Sr Immaculate Mbhele, 24.

The video was shot in front of the Sisters’ chapel by Sr Sthembile Sithole.

Sr Thembelihle said she hopes the video helps show that even though the Sisters live in a closed community, they are also an integral part of the larger community, and that they too are praying for people affected by Covid-19.

“As Dominicans nuns we are called to preach the Gospel through words and actions. It is our way of responding to the call to show solidarity with every human being affected by the epidemic,” she said.

Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha has spoken out strongly against corruption in South Africa.

(Photo: Bishop Stanislaw Dziuba) leadership, which is manifest in few people turning up to vote during the election period.”

Bishop Sipuka called for personal responsibility in the fight against corruption saying: “As we become enraged with corruption, let us remember that the call against corruption starts with us.

In our personal lives and in our work, we must not be liable for acts and dispositions that smack of corruption, otherwise we have no right to speak against it.”

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The Southern Cross, September 2 to September 8, 2020

INTERNATIONAL

What pope will tell UN

BY CINDY WOODEN

W

HEN he addresses, via video message, the UN General Assembly on September 15, Pope Francis is expected to speak about using the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity to rethink economic, political and environmental policies in a way that will benefit humanity and the earth.

Since Covid-19 was officially recognised as a pandemic in early March, the pope has been urging individuals, organisations and governments to recognise the inequalities the pandemic has highlighted in economics and access to health care and education, as well as the ways current patterns of production and consumption have damaged the environment.

Pope Francis began a series of general audience talks about the principles of Catholic Social Teaching that can help the world recover from the pandemic and move forward in a way that is better for human beings and for the environment.

The pope spoke about transforming “the roots of our physical, spiritual and social infirmities and the destructive practices that separate us from each other, threatening the human family and our planet”.

During a news conference in Rieti, Italy, to launch a celebration marking events in the life of St Francis of Assisi, Bishop Domenico Pompili replied to a comment about interreligious cooperation by saying that Pope Francis was preparing a new encyclical on “human fraternity”, a phrase used for a document on interreligious dialogue

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

The

Pope Francis addresses the UN on September 25, 2015. (Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP) and cooperation signed in 2019 by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmad elTayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar.

The Vatican has not confirmed that an encyclical is in the works, but it would make sense that a social encyclical on a post-Covid vision would build upon an affirmation that all human beings were created by God with equal dignity and that solutions to the world’s most pressing problems must be found together and must benefit all.

C

ardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, was asked in an interview what principles of Catholic Social Teaching could help the global economy recover from the pandemic and its lockdowns.

“The priority is not the economy as such, but the human person,” he responded to Carlo di Cicco, former assistant editor of L’Osservatore Romano.

“Covid-19 not only provoked a health crisis but impacted multiple

aspects of human life: the family, politics, labour, businesses, commerce, tourism, etc,” Cardinal Parolin said. “The broad and interconnected character of the pandemic constantly reminds us of the observation of Pope Francis that ‘everything is connected’.”

The cardinal said acceptance of the idea that the economy is not everything is the only explanation for why so many national and local governments ordered lockdowns to prevent the spread of the coronavirus: “It shows that the priority isn’t the economy but the person.”

However, he said, for the Catholic Church, it is not enough to be concerned about a person’s physical health. “The integrity of the human person must be cared for,” which means caring for the person’s spiritual, political and economic health as well, Cardinal Parolin said.

Especially since Pope John XXIII’s teaching about peacemaking in the face of the nuclear arms race, the cardinal said, Catholic Social Teaching has emphasised the interdependence of nations.

The pandemic revealed “our common weakness, our shared fragility”, he said. “However, instead of fostering cooperation for the universal common good, we see more and more walls rising around us, exalting borders as a guarantee of security and practising systematic violations of the law, maintaining a situation of permanent global conflict.”

But, Cardinal Parolin said, the pandemic demonstrates that what is needed is “friendship and benevolence rather than hatred and fear”.—CNS

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Day Care and short stay facilities also available.

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Jubilee Year Camino to Santiagode Compostela

Official 7-Day Camino From Lugo to Santiago de Compostela

September 2021 With spiritual director Fr Chris Townsend

(Photo: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters/CNS)

Doctors: Mass is safe when rules are followed

E

VIDENCE suggests that church services following public health guidelines do not present a greater risk of spreading the novel coronavirus than other similar activities, doctors said last week.

Washing hands, social distancing, and mask requirements have helped prevent the spread of Covid-19, even in cases when contagious, presymptomatic parishioners took part in church events, three members of the US Thomistic Institute Working Group on Infectious Disease Protocols for Sacraments & Pastoral Care concluded.

Doctors Thomas McGovern, Timothy Flanigan (also a deacon), and Paul Cieslak authored an article for Real Clear Science on Mass attendance and Covid-19.

“For Catholic churches follow-

Famed Italian tenor sings two songs in ‘Fatima’ movie

BY MARK PATTISON

M

OST movie patrons head for the exits once they see the closing credits start rolling.

Those who do that after watching Fatima, though, will miss not one, but two songs performed by the famed Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, a Catholic.

Bocelli said his participation in the movie, now on circuit in South Africa, was a labour of love.

“As a Christian, I joyfully agreed to provide my contribution to develop such a moving and crucial story for the big screen as it involves our heavenly Mother Mary, consoler and mediatrix,” said Bocelli.

Bocelli has been to the Portuguese city where Mary appeared to three children over a sixmonth period in 1917, as World War I was raging in much of Europe. “At Fátima, every breath becomes a prayer: I myself experienced this when, again, in

Pope Francis greets Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, who performs two songs in Fatima.

(Photo: Max Rossi, Reuters/CNS) 2018, I was privileged to offer my contribution as an artist as well as a believer,” to the movie, he said.

He cannot accept every offer made to him, but “when, as in this case, I realise that I am able to convey the Christian values that my family instilled in me— which I in turn try to instil in my children—I say ‘present’ without hesitation,” Bocelli said.

“It was a joy to be part of this project, as Mary is an ever-present

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and bright presence in me and my family’s life,” he said.

I was able to go to Lourdes as a child and in recent years I’ve been going to Medjugorje. I have always found poetry and beauty in the Church attributing central stage to a female presence that works on our behalf. I am a devotee of the Virgin to whom I always dedicate part of my prayers.”

During the closing credits, Bocelli sings “Gloria” and “Gratia Plena”, the latter written by Paolo Buonvino specifically for Fatima.

In explaining what the events at Fátima mean to him personally, Bocelli said: “I believe that heaven and Fátima gave us a precious gift. The events described there carry a story which appears irrational and non-decipherable but is actually genuine, sweet and edifying. The miracle of the apparitions with the three little shepherds carries with it a message of love.”—CNS

Mother Teresa’s 110th birthday cancelled

M

To book or for info contact Gail at

ing the guidelines, no outbreaks of Covid-19 have been linked to church attendance, even though we have examples...of asymptomatic, unknowingly infected individuals attending Mass and other parish functions,” they wrote.

“Their attendance could have led to an outbreak if appropriate precautions were not followed, yet in each case, we found no evidence of viral transmission.

“This encouraging news should inspire confidence that the guidelines in place—are working to decrease Covid-19 transmission,” the doctors continued.

“While nothing during a pandemic is risk-free, these guidelines mean that Catholics may be confident that it’s reasonably safe to come to Church for Mass and the sacraments.”—CNA

ISSIONARIES of Charity nuns cancelled the usual birth anniversary celebrations of their founder, St Teresa, this year after nine nuns tested positive for Covid-19.

Ucanews.com reported the saintly nun’s 110th birth anniversary passed off without the customary celebrations on August 26 at the congregation’s headquarters.

After nine nuns tested positive for Covid-19 at the Missionaries of Charity headquarters, the nuns cancelled the usual nine-day novena prayer, concelebrated Mass and children’s singing and dancing as part of the anniversary.

The headquarters, or motherhouse, is where Mother Teresa is buried. A private Mass was held at

Pope John Paul II holds hands with Mother Teresa of Kolkata after visiting her home for the destitute and dying in 1986 in India. (Photo: Luciano Mellace, Reuters/CNS)

the tomb on the morning of August 26, concelebrated by Fr Dominic Gomes, vicar-general of Kolkata archdiocese, said Sunil Lucas, who volunteers with the order.

As of August 26, seven of the nine nuns had recovered, Mr Lucas said.

The headquarters houses about 100 nuns, including novices.

A senior nun said the Missionaries of Charity order has been restricting visitors and has avoided gatherings since mid-March, when the virus began to spread in the country.

Although none of the nuns can go out now, their work for the poor in their several houses for orphans and the dying continues unhindered, she added.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, September 2 to September 8, 2020

5

Kenyan Church leaders demand action on theft of Covid-19 funds

BY FREDRICK NZWILI

A

S in South Africa, Church leaders in Kenya have spoken out against corruption as funds meant to fight the Covid-19 pandemic go missing.

Archbishop Martin Kivuva of Mombasa led Kenyan religious leaders in condemning an alleged theft of funds meant to fight the pandemic, saying such thievery would be immoral and contrary to God’s teachings.

Archbishop Kivuva, chairman of the interfaith Dialogue Reference Group, spoke as anger over the alleged theft continued to rise. This has triggered demonstrations in towns and cities across the country, with protesters demanding the firing and prosecution of the involved government officials and their accomplices.

“It is inconceivable to us that a Kenyan can sit and plot how to steal money meant to save the lives of Kenyans,” the archbishop said, reading the religious leaders’ statement.

The East African nation has received millions of dollars in the form of grants, loans and donations to support the battle against the coronavirus, but the lack of transparency and accountability in the expenditures lends credence to allegations that they are being embezzled, the archbishop said.

Members of Mexico’s federal forces flank José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, a crime boss known as “El Marro”, after his arrest. (Photo: Guanajuato Attorney General’s Office/ReutersCNS)

Archbishop Martin Kivuva of Mombasa, Kenya, speaks at a news conference in Nairobi. The archbishop led Kenyan religious leaders in demanding government action on the alleged theft of Covid-19 funds. (Photo: Fredrick Nzwili/CNS) “This is a challenge for all of us, but the people [involved] should...pay for their sins,” Archbishop Kivuva said, responding to a question.

The religious leaders want the president to make relevant government ministries accountable for funds received, including how money was spent, the names of companies that received the funds, and the beneficiaries. They also

urged the government to prosecute anyone implicated in the theft.

Corruption persists in Kenya largely because of a lack of firm action against those involved in graft, Archbishop Kivuva said.

“If the people can see culprits getting serious punishment—we have just seen a few cases—this would frighten and scare away anyone attempting to steal public funds,” the archbishop said.—CNS

Coronavirus and creation: Bringing lessons learned into prayer, action

BY CINDY WOODEN

D

URING the height of the Covid-19 lockdowns, citydwellers—including Pope Francis—were struck by the hush on the streets, the blueness of the skies and the songs of birds.

The experience gives added meaning to the theme of the 2020 celebration of the Season of Creation: “Jubilee for the Earth: New Rhythms, New Hope”.

The Season of Creation began on September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, an observance initiated by the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1989 and adopted by Pope Francis for the Catholic Church in 2015. The season runs through to October 4, the feast of St Francis of Assisi.

The theme, “Jubilee for the Earth”, refers to the biblical jubilee years in Leviticus 25—a sacred time every 50 years for renewing one’s relationship with God, restoring justice to individuals and letting the land recuperate.

Fr Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam, an official at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Develop-

ment, said the theme was chosen by an ecumenical organising group before the Covid-19 pandemic began.

They wanted to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22.

But, “the theme has become so relevant in the context of lockdown, and the pandemic is still raging across the world”, he said. While the lockdown had a hugely negative impact on the poor, who could not work from home, it “gave us a taste of an environment with much less pollution, the skies were clear, the dolphins came back” to the waters off Italy.

The “small gap” of the lockdown, he said, showed that, if given a chance, “nature can flourish again”.

In a joint letter urging Christians to mark the celebrations, the ecumenical Conference of European Churches and the Catholic Council of European Bishops’ Conferences said the biblical call to a jubilee “underlines that there must exist a just and sustainable balance between social, economic and ecological realities”.

“The lesson from the biblical concept of jubilee points us towards the need to restore balance in

the very systems of life,” said the letter.

The same view was stated by our columnist Fr Pierre Goldie in his article “Pandemic needs a Jubilee Response”, published May 13.

Celia Deane-Drummond, director of the Laudato Si’ Research Institute at Campion Hall at England’s Oxford University, said a jubilee implies rest for the land—by, for example, letting a field lie fallow for a year—and rest for human beings, especially those enslaved by others, but also those who feel driven to work almost 24/7 for earnings or status.

“That’s what integral ecology is all about; bringing together the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor means not focusing on one or the other but both at the same time,” she said. “Trying to get a balance between those aspects is sometimes quite challenging, but a jubilee is sort of like, ‘Let’s stop and listen and think about how we need to do things differently.’”—CNS

Crime boss arrest sparks talk of Church ‘drug alms’

N

O sooner had Mexico’s federal forces arrested José Antonio Yépez Ortiz—a crime boss known as “El Marro” (The Sledgehammer)—than stories surfaced of his supposed generosity to the Catholic Church and devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

El Marro led a fearsome crime organisation, the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel.

This turned the state of Guanajuato, the country’s conservative, Catholic heartland, into the most murderous state in Mexico.

He also built a shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe outside his home in the town of Santa Rosa de Lima and maintained another shrine in the community.

“I know that El Marro has respected the Church, but not in another way,” Bishop Benjamin Castillo Plascencia of Celaya told local media after the arrest, when asked about donations known as narcolimosnas, or drug alms. “I don’t think there’s anything. If not, let them prove it.”

El Marro’s arrest in August cast uncomfortable suspicions on the Catholic Church and once again highlighted its troubled relationship with drug cartels and organised crime.

It also highlighted the tendency

of drug cartel members—from kingpins to peons—to consider themselves proper Catholics and publicly profess their piety, even as they commit atrocious crimes.

Narcos can also be generous; they sponsor patron saints’ feast days, fix up parishes and build shrines to saints or pseudo-saints, often overriding the objections of village priests in remote regions where criminal groups hold sway.

The relationship between Church and crime is often a complicated one, according to analysts and priests. Mexico ranks as the world’s most lethal country for priests, and many of the murders have occurred in rural regions rife with drug cartel activities.

“The pastor, being in some way a figure of spiritual power, who offers services…who protects the community, tends to be sort of seen as competition for these groups,” said Pauline Father Omar Sotelo Aguilar, director of the Catholic Multimedia Centre, which tracks attacks on priests.

When a priest is killed, it sends the message, “If I’m able to kill a priest, I can kill anyone”, Fr Sotelo added.—CNS n Read the full version HERE

YOUR GIFT OF ANY AMOUNT HELPS

Belarus archbishop refused re-entry, warns of civil war

T

HE president of the Belarusian bishops’ conference has been barred from reentering his country from abroad, after warning in a pastoral letter that the nation’s worsening crisis could spill into civil war.

“Returning to Minsk, I was not allowed in at the Kuznica-Bialystok border crossing,” Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk-Mohilev told the Catholic Information Agency, KAI, in neighbouring Poland.

“No explanation was offered whatsoever, even though I’m a citizen of Belarus. I was told I

Women form a human chain in front of Ss Simon and Helena church in Minsk, Belarus.

(Photo: Vasily Fedosenko, Reuters/CNS) was banned from entering Belarus, nothing more.”

Church sources in Minsk con-

firmed the exclusion of the 74year-old Church leader, as Belarusian security forces confronted demonstrators protesting the rule of President Alexander Lukashenko, who claimed to win a disputed presidential election on August 9.

In his letter, read out in churches on August 30, Archbishop Kondrusiewicz said society was “spiritually ill” in Belarus, adding that he had arranged for a statue of St Michael the Archangel to be carried through the Church’s four dioceses in a bid to settle current conflicts.—CNS

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6

The Southern Cross, September 2 to September 8, 2020

The

LEADER PAGE

S outher n C ross Editor: Günther Simmermacher

How we choose sides

O

NE effect of the pervasiveness of social media has been the globalisation of opinion. With Facebook, Twitter and US news channels freely available, the US election is a matter of broad interest to many in South Africa.

Too often, however, Facebook and Twitter and the other platforms are impoverishing rather than sharpening our collective analytical skills.

This is true for all politics in a time when selective news, fake news, gratuitous sloganeering and combative arguments are poisoning the public discourse.

Entrenched partisanship is an obstacle to the kind of reflective thought the Church is calling is to. Rather than being on Team Trump, Team Biden, Team Ramaphosa, Team Ace, Team Malema or Team DA, the teachings of the Catholic Church counsels us to discernment.

We are asked by the Church to study issues at hand, analyse them, arrive at positions that serve the greater good, and direct our political support towards political candidates who best (or least worst) meet these needs.

What these positions and needs are may depend on our political temperament, moral compass, economic priorities and non-negotiables.

So for some, the discernment process may be limited to just a few issues, or even one, such as abortion or social justice.

Ideally, the Church guides us to consider a breadth of issues, with some weighing more than others. Almost invariably, those who give such things honest and due thought will find that no party and no candidate is in complete accord with the teachings of the Church.

Some candidates or parties may be more in violation of these teachings than others, but none will ever satisfy all that the Church demands.

This was true even of Italy’s Party, Democracy Christian which enjoyed the explicit support of Church leaders, including popes. Eventually it collapsed under the weight of its own corruption and division (an instructive history for the ANC).

It is precisely because there are no political parties and politicians who meet all the demands of the Church’s teachings that the Catholic Church and its representatives in democracies cannot endorse, or be seen to be

endorsing, one candidate over the other.

This is even more imperative when a candidate or party is riddled with moral failures, corruption, bigotry, iniquitous policies and so on.

As the presidential election campaign officially kicked off with the conventions for the two candidates, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the partisanship within the Church moved into the spotlight.

The Democrats had Jesuit Father James Martin pray at their convention; the Republicans had Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who earlier this year unambiguously stated his support for Mr Trump.

Both clerics have large public support, and even if the purpose of their appearances at the conventions was to pray, by their presence they also became part of the political canvassing.

The difference is that Fr Martin speaks for few individuals; Cardinal Dolan officially represents an archdiocese and, indeed, a rank of clergy. His participation in a political party convention was an act of partisanship.

It seems a good time for the US bishops’ conference to consider an option whereby one cleric is mandated to offer prayers on behalf of the Catholic Church at the conventions of both parties. This would put at least one burning problem of partisanship to rest.

Also unseemly were some aspects of Sr Deirdre Byrne at the Republican convention. She appeared as a speaker endorsing Mr Trump, whom she is, of course, free to support.

On may agree or disagree with her on matters of policy—as one might with those held by Sister Simone Campbell, who spoke at the Democratic convention—but it was improper of Sr Byrne to invoke the rosary as part of her political campaigning.

By effectively brandishing the rosary on behalf of Donald Trump, she did not witness her faith. Sr Byrne did the opposite: she instrumentalised the rosary as a political weapon.

Every Catholic should be scandalised by that, and by any misuse of our faith and its external expressions for party political purposes.

Our political positions should be shaped by the wealth and breadth of Catholic teachings. If they aren’t, then we have work to do, as a Church and on ourselves.

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.

The Catholic press follows in St Paul’s path

I

READ with great interest the narrative by Sydney Duval entitled “Farewell and look to the future” (August 5), which I appreciated very much.

Indeed, the farewell blessing he mentions was certainly a sad moment for the board members, staff and loyal readers of The Southern Cross.

Sad, because in a way it looks— from outside at least—that it would not have been so difficult to find enough benefactors to gather the R500 000 the newspaper needed, even though there were other factors involved like the postal service, and especially the indifference of too many in the Church.

I felt at least reassured when I read that there will still be in the future a monthly Southern Cross magazine. Hope indeed is impor-

tant in such challenging situations.

Put in that light, of a plan for the future, you can feel that indeed you did not work in vain.

I am quite aware of the amount of love and labour that Mr Duval and others have put into your newspaper. I deeply respect and admire that.

My association with Mr Duval goes back to my time as the superior-general of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill and his involvement in helping us to keep the UmAfrika newspaper going.

We do need a social media that will challenge and criticise governments and all who are involved in various forms of injustice, oppression and corruption. We can feel reassured that through such voices, in echoing

Are Church’s tassels too long?

Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy.

Letters can be sent to editor@scross.co.za

I

FULLY agree with Tony Meehan’s comments (September 2) regarding the supposed invalidity of sacraments following a baptism which the Church finds wanting in terns of the formula used.

The laughable instance of an ordained priest who discovered that his baptism ceremony had not been in strict accordance with Church regulations comes to mind.

The use of “we” instead of “I” made the sacrament invalid. One wonders what the popes who until recently used the royal “we” would make of it—semantics!

Further, one could wonder at the Good Lord’s attitude to this. He who criticised the elders for being overzealous in their application of laws that were, after all, man-made.

And Rome tells us that their attitude is not over-legalistic!

I understand baptism as performed by John to have been in the Jordan River—probably by total immersion, so how could our ceremony have been altered for any other purpose but human convenience?

Did Jesus himself perform any baptisms? John 2 and 4 cast some doubt on his having ever done so.

What has made the process determined by men, by the Church, so rigid that the tiniest departure would invalidate it? And how should we regard what the Church calls “baptism by desire”—would this too be subject to scrutiny?

It would, of course, be impossible, but how many Catholics, clergy or laity, could be assured that their baptism had been completed in ac-

cordance with Church requirements? And should some not have been valid, unbeknown to the recipients, would these people now in their innocence be condemned to banishment from God’s heaven, as the catechism suggests, leaving no alternative?

There are good reasons for the dogmas and rituals of the Church, largely because they facilitate communal worship as well as providing ways and means for communion with our God. But I cannot believe that they should be considered so cast-in-stone as to punish people for discrepancies in observance by somebody else who was appointed by the Church.

My belief is that Jesus would consider this instance as being minor.

Also considering that the Trinity could be involved, is “we” so wrong? Jesus himself has given the command, “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”, and Mr Meehan’s reference to Mark confirms this.

Perhaps typically, the Church has reportedly given no guidance to those who, having been the victims of faulty baptisms, subsequently participated in other sacraments, such as marriage—we may have to be very patient.

The God in whom I have come to believe is a loving, kind, compas-

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A disturbing and unnecessary death

L

AST week you kindly published the obituary for Donovan Lawry, in which I also recalled the recent death of Thomas Manthata.

But we are marking another death, this time disturbing and surely unnecessary: that of the weekly 100-year-old Southern Cross newspaper, which will cease to publish as a newspaper at the end of the month and become a monthly magazine instead.

We celebrate the courageous, incisive insights of its editor, Günther Simmermacher. The Southern Cross has been, and should have been allowed to continue as, a faithful, challenging offspring of the muchbattered Second Vatican Council.

Paul Goller, Johannesburg

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sionate God, and I cannot accept that his is a legalistic attitude, as is that of our Church.

It is the spirit that matters, the intention, not the rigorous attention to detail. Christ was quite happy when his apostles ate grain on the Sabbath, but the Scribes and the Pharisees were not. Whom should one obey?

I was schooled by the Christian Brothers and the Holy Rosary Sisters, and those guilt-days are hard to forget. Not that those good people could be blamed—they were proclaiming the line which was the Church’s under Pius XII. I believe Pope Francis, he of “Who am I to judge?”, would understand. Perhaps we need better guidance than that we are being given. Are the phylacteries too large, the tassels too long?

Cecil Cullen, Alberton

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the social and moral teachings of the Church, the Good News will remain alive.

In conclusion, allow me to tell you that I especially appreciated one detail in Mr Duval’s article.

This was the reference to the first disciples and St Paul as agents of social communications and thus as promoters of the Christian faith in the community.

The Catholic press follows in their footsteps.

Our own founder, Abbot Francis Pfanner, was himself a pioneer and very active and creative promoter of the social communications apostolate.

He saw so many years ago the value of the printed word to keep the faithful connected as communicating communities.

Fr Yves La Fontaine CMM, Québec, Canada

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PERSPECTIVES

Be the miracle you’re praying for Mphuthumi L Ntabeni IKE every avid reader of The Southern Cross, the news that the weekly newspaper version would be discontinued gave me a cold shock and a lump in my throat.

I prayed, I still pray, that someone might rescue it. But I’ve also come to the conclusion that the attitude of praying for miracles when we ourselves could be facilitating them is probably one of the valid criticisms of some faithful.

It is the deadening lull of fatalism rather than the vitality of hope. I mean, what is stopping a group of us coming together to form some kind of a business trust that would fund and run the publication in its weekly newspaper and digital form?

I believe there’s still an overwhelming need for a newspaper that serves not just the Catholic community but the Christian one in general in our country.

The added facility of a monthly magazine would accommodate and serve the need for longer investigative and opinion pieces.

Through the years after my conversion to Catholicism, The Southern Cross has helped me keep in touch not only with Catholic news but also to think about my faith and be able to express it.

As someone who moves mostly in circles which are, at best, bemused by people of faith and at worst ridicule them, I appreciate the opportunity The Southern Cross provides of letting down my guard and becoming myself by being around or reading about people of my own faith.

In the language of the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins in “Heaven-Haven”: “And I have asked to be / Where no storms come. / Where the green swell is in the havens dumb, / And out of the swing of the sea.”

Now it feels cruel to be robbed of my Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon of reading The Southern Cross (I receive the digital version mostly on Wednesdays and start reading, and—before lock-

down—then finish with the paper version I’d buy at Mass when relaxing after my Sunday lunch).

Reading The Southern Cross has been one of the tricks by which I take strength as I prepare to tackle the coming week.

Keeping the boats afloat The demise of The Southern Cross newspaper feels more painful still and poignant by the fact that I am currently reading a copy of the jubilee issue of the British Catholic journal The Tablet, which is celebrating 140 years of publication since 1840.

It is not that The Tablet’s road has been smooth either. Recently it appealed to its compatriots for more support, especially during the Covid-19 lockdown which has become the final nail in the coffin of many businesses this year, and in that of The Southern Cross as a weekly newspaper.

Luckily, The Tablet was saved by many of its supporters who took double to triple subscriptions and added more for friends and family as gifts to keep the journal afloat.

Though the The Tablet boat is also still leaking, the success of the appeal has given them a breather to stay afloat.

The Southern Cross will cease to exist as a weekly newspaper at the end of September, but there is still a need for it, argues Mphuthumi Ntabeni.

The Public Square

A common misunderstanding I encounter, among Catholics and people in general, is that the Church is rich and so must be able to financially support the entities built around our faith.

The Church is not rich, certainly not in South Africa. She is able to run her affairs only to the extent by which we are willing to lend her support, which must sometimes translate to material aid.

I have also deluded myself through the years that my material support of The Southern Cross—by way of offering the gift God gave me in the ability to express my thoughts in written form without expecting remuneration for my columns—was enough. It is obvious now that this too was not enough. I need to put the yoke on both shoulders if this publication is to survive and thrive.

I am writing this, my last column for The Southern Cross in this format, as an appeal to those of with material business and financial means and skills to get our heads together, form some sort of business entity that shall take The Southern Cross in the next stage of its life.

Correspondence towards this can be organised through the editor’s office (editor@scross.co.za), and we take things forward from there.

When the boat is leaking, someone has to brave the waters and dive under to plug the leak. That someone must be us.

The onus is now on us to be the miracles we are praying for. n After 14 years, this is the final column by Mphuthumi Ntabeni in The Southern Cross newspaper. We thank him for his many insights, and look forward to featuring his articles in the new Southern Cross magazine.

Church must meet new family realities I Imelda Diouf N his column of August 12, “Marriage no longer means the same” (read here), Fr Chris Townsend reflected on the different understandings of marriage of the state and the Church.

He made the bold assertion: “Let’s face it: the law governing marriage in South Africa is useless. At best it is a product of its time and deeply flawed.” That statement merits further discussion.

In this, it is important to remember that we are not citizens of a Christian state where Church law is binding on the populace. Despite the fact that most people have religious affiliation, South Africa is a secular state that does not support or inhibit any specific religious ideology.

Though we might get annoyed when religious leaders promote ingestion of grass or face-fulls of insect spray, we leave these complaints to courts and chapter nine institutions.

Religious and irreligious freedom is guaranteed. This approach can be experienced on important occasions when Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and other religious leaders are all given opportunity to join in prayer. Simultaneously, people might be requested to share a moment of silence to personally reflect and commune with the gods of their choice.

This example of broad spirituality is proof of the diverse nature of our country and the constitution. Unity in diversity. It’s a practice that is lauded by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the South African Council of Churches.

It is also important to reflect that the laws governing marriage in post-apartheid South Africa have had to navigate generations of colonial subjugation, religious impositions, discriminatory practices and a migrant labour system that placed onerous burdens on adult relationships, family structures, parent-child bonds, and the role of men as husbands and fathers—not to mention the burden on women as caregivers and financial providers.

This sorry state has led to weakened relationships and the breakdown of marriage.

Currently non-marital childbearing among black African and coloured women respectively stands at 59% and 54%.

The legislative process has had to take into account a range of social matters re-

The Family Brief

Marriage is not what it once was, and the Church needs to find brave pastoral solutions to that, argues Imelda Diouf. lating to adult relationships.

I don’t agree that the law governing marriage is useless and flawed. On the contrary, it is cognisant of human choices.

A civil marriage can still be conducted by a state marriage officer in a church or at the Department of Home Affairs. More broadly though, the law is now a reflection of a society that comprises more than the Church and Christian practice.

What has changed is that unions between consenting adults can also be pursued as customary marriages and civil unions. These unions can include polygamous marriages, same-sex unions and partnership agreements. And yes, polyandrous unions might very well be tested in the courts, especially now that DNA tests can determine fatherhood.

Legal protection in marital union At the basis of marital unions is now legal protection of all who enter the agreement. Marital union is a contract. The provision for choice and protection of the parties who enter a marital union, in a democratic and diverse state, should be lauded.

StatsSA data show that currently the state of marriage, chosen by less than 27% of the population, is in rapid decline. Civil unions and partnership agreements are on the rise, but just barely.

A 2016 StatsSA report provides information on the trend analysis of marital status over time. There has been a consistent increase in the proportion of persons who have never been married: from 47,7% in 1996 to 50,8% in 2011 and 56,5% in 2016.

Over the same period, marriage has consistently declined: from 39,5% in 1996 to 32% in 2011 and finally 28,3% in 2016.

It is no great surprise that the Church and the state have a different understanding in terms of partner-choice and legal protection. At the basis of many of these debates, however, is a Catholic Church where celibate men have to grapple with aspects of family life of which they have no or limited personal experience.

While the state supports cohabitation, homosexual unions and polygamous marriages, Church law does not allow these statuses and thus struggles with the ministering of pastoral care to family units which might choose lifestyles outside Church law.

But just because we might not morally agree with a lifestyle, does not mean that the law is flawed.

Fr Townsend suggested: “It is time for our bishops to seriously interrogate this question and come up with a brave stance to say that our priests and deacons now have to cease being state marriage officers.”

Though this plea could be considered, the question is not about whether priests and deacons can be state marriage officers—it is about whether the Catholic Church excludes or includes those who do not comply with the Church’s law.

And if inclusion is supported, then how is pastoral care provided by priests and deacons?

These questions take us well beyond issues of marital unions but also into the bigger issues of contraception, sex outside marriage, and unwanted births (or abortion).

It is time for our bishops to seriously interrogate many questions and come up with brave stances that consider and support family life within the Catholic Church. n Imelda Diouf is the director of the Sekwele Centre for Family Studies (www.sekwele.org)

The Southern Cross, September 2 to September 8, 2020

7

Michael Shackleton

Open Door

Where are priests in the Bible?

According to Acts 6:5-6 the Apostles ordained seven men as deacons. Nowhere in the New Testament is there a record of men being ordained priests. How can we explain this?

Surely the ordination of priests must have been an important event in those early times.

Cedric

P

RIESTS in the Holy Land at the time of the twelve Apostles were officials of Jerusalem’s temple. Their job was to offer animal sacrifices to God and to do other sacred rituals on behalf of the people.

There were no other known priests, so when the Apostles began to preach the Kingdom of God, they did not and could not consider themselves priests. How, then, do we have our priests in the Church?

In New Testament passages such as 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11, St Paul refers to apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors and evangelists. They played key roles in providing support to the twelve Apostles as they coped with growing numbers of converts.

Acts 2:41 tells us that these groups of new Christians were united in the breaking of bread and prayer. That is, they shared the Eucharist together. To do that they needed at least one of the Apostles, because it was only to the Apostles at the Last Supper that Jesus gave the command to “do this in memory of me”.

Twelve men could not be everywhere at all times, so there must have been helpers to whom the Apostles passed on the singular spiritual power given them by Christ, to preside at the Eucharist.

T

he sacred words “This is my body which is given up for you” and “This is the chalice of my blood which is poured out for you” point directly to Christ’s self-sacrifice on the Cross as our High Priest. The word “priest”—from the title of those who performed sacred rituals—thus came to be associated with the celebrant at Mass.

Paul and Barnabas chose “elders” and appointed them to be pastors of the Christians in Antioch (Acts 14:23). These elders, or presbyters, were the earliest priests in this sense. They are mentioned often in Acts, for example in 15:2; 16:4; 20:17; 21:18.

In some texts men like these are given the title “bishop” (from the Greek word for “overseer”), such as we find in Acts 20:28 and Phil 1:1.

Later, this distinction developed to identify bishops as leaders of a Christian community, and priests as their cooperators in spreading faith and order as willed by Christ. All bishops are priests. Not all priests are bishops.

Priestly ordination came from experience.

The Apostles applied their mandate from Christ to preach the Gospel to all nations, and ordained men to help them do it.

Our bishops, priests and deacons all share in the single priesthood of Christ. Deacons were ordained by the Apostles for immediate needs in their time and in the future. As time moved on, the priesthood evolved to join them. n After 19 years, this is the final ”Open Door” column.

We thank Michael Shackleton for the hundreds of erudite answers to readers’ questions, and are delighted that he will be part of our panel of experts in the Q&A section of the new Southern Cross magazine.

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8

The Southern Cross, September 2 to September 8, 2020

FILM

The actors who made Fatima film Last week a new film on the apparitions at Fatima opened in South African cinemas. This week we meet the movie’s actors.

T

HE new movie Fatima was shot in two phases with two separate sets of actors, beginning with what director Marco Pontecorvo describes as a small “film within a film”.

In a series of scenes set in the Carmelite convent in Coimbra, Portugal, in the 1980s, Professor Nichols, a fictional religious scholar portrayed by veteran actor Harvey Keitel, interviews the now 80-year-old Sister Lúcia. A sceptical academic, Nichols wants to hear the tale of Fátima from a first-hand witness.

The character, though fictional, is essential to bringing contemporary viewers into the movie, said producer James T Volk.

“He doesn’t believe that miracles happen, but he knows there are things that are unexplainable, and he wants to know more about them. He and Sr Lúcia find some common ground on how such things can impact the world,” Volk said.

“Keitel’s character represents the sceptical part of the audience, which will include a lot of people,” he said.

Keitel was drawn to the project both by the story and by the opportunity to work with Pontecorvo.

“The story of the children and Our Lady of Fátima is as touching a tale of humankind’s reach for the heavens as any I know of,” the Jewish-born actor said.

“The conflict embedded in that reach for God has involved every creature on our planet…and beyond. Any human being living has at some time been a sceptic about religion and has journeyed for knowledge of religiosity. I don’t think there’s a person in the world that will not be interested in the story. It is a human story—not just one for Catholics. She is Our Lady of Fátima.”

Behind the grille In all of his scenes with Brazilian actress Sônia Braga, who plays Sr Lúcia, Keitel is separated from her by the traditional metal grille of the contemplative Carmelite order, but that was never an impediment to the connection between the two, said the actor.

Scenes from Fatima (from left): Goran Visnjic as mayor Arturo with Joaquim de Almeida as the parish priest • Harvey Keitel as Professor Nichols • Sônia Braga as Sr Lúcia • The “Miracle of the Sun” is observed by the three visionary children and Lúcia Moniz as Maria dos Santos.

“A window hasn’t the strength to get in the way. Working with Sônia Braga, I understand how she earned her reputation as a legend in cinema. She embedded the questions we all have of the God we seek in her performance.”

Braga was immediately intrigued by the mystery and complexity of Sr Lúcia. In her skilled hands the character projects the spiritual depth that Nichols struggles to understand.

Braga, who said she was “very, very Catholic” as a young girl, was familiar with the story of Fátima and remembers seeing images of the three shepherds with angels behind them. So the opportunity to revisit it made the movie a very attractive proposition.

“In this film my character is the one person left who witnessed it all. I was very curious to be part of that.”

Braga says she is eager to hear what audiences take away from the finished film.

“One moment that stands out for me is when she tells Professor Nichols, ‘I can only give you my testimony, I don’t have answers for everything.’ I think this is important and that audiences will find that interesting.”

The little shepherds Realising that finding young actors with the skill and subtlety to play the three young shepherds would be crucial to the film’s success, the filmmakers cast a wide net during their search, holding auditions in Madrid, and reviewing hundreds of audition tapes.

Stephanie Gil and Jorge Lamelas, who play young Lúcia and Francisco, are both from Madrid.

Alejandra Howard, who plays Jacinta, is the daughter of a Spanish mother and an American actor father who live in Barcelona.

The three children formed a tight bond even before shooting

began, which Pontecorvo noted lent their scenes the sense of reality he was looking for.

Stephanie Gil, who was just 13 on the Fatima set, had already been working in Spain for several years and made her English-language acting debut in the recent sci-fi action sequel Terminator: Dark Fate.

Despite being three years older than Lúcia is in the film, Gil sees a lot of similarities between her and her character, whom she describes as strong, smart and confident.

“I hope we share the same strength,” the actress said. “She has a rich inner world and she’s always thinking. I have my own inner world, too, so that’s something else we share.”

After the visitation from the Virgin, Lúcia’s life changes drastically and permanently, she said.

The harmless farm girl becomes an enemy of the people, the state and the Church.

“Everyone starts to judge her and her cousins. That’s pretty hard for a 10-year-old.”

The actress said she will always remember visiting the sanctuary of Fátima. “Although we didn’t shoot there, it was really touching to see all the people lined up.”

Thirteen-year-old Jorge Lamelas, who plays Lúcia’s younger cousin Francisco, is already a star on the stage in Madrid, playing the title role in the musical Billy Elliot and performing live for Pope Francis. Fatima is his first feature film.

“The story is really, really beautiful,” he said. “Francisco is a really humble and nice kid. He can see the Virgin but not hear her like Jacinta and Lúcia do, so he’s a bit confused. But he stands by Jacinta and Lúcia to make everyone believe that what they say is true.”

Nine-year-old Alejandra Howard also makes her film debut in Fatima. It was her father’s agent who

suggested her for the role.

“I was eight when I did the movie,” she explained. “Jacinta is kind of like me. I think she is competitive and pretty smart.”

The doubters Lúcia’s mother is often portrayed as cruel to her daughter, but Pontecorvo shines a new light on Maria dos Santos.

“She’s really under pressure. It’s not that she doesn’t believe in the Virgin Mary. It’s that she can’t imagine that the Blessed Mother would appear to her daughter. Her humility prevented her from considering that a possibility.”

Pontecorvo remembered Lúcia Moniz’s performance as the Portuguese housekeeper Aurelia in the British romantic comedy Love, Actually when casting the role.

“She managed to go very deep in her soul for this character,” he said Gil, who has many emotional scenes with Moniz, agreed: “Working with her was very special. We instantly connected and felt a real mother-daughter kind of vibe. She has immense talent and she helped me a lot. I love her.”

Croatian-American actor Goran Visnjic, whose Hollywood career was launched on the television series ER, plays the mayor, Arturo.

Under pressure from government officials in Lisbon, Arturo takes extreme measures to discredit the children’s story, going so far as to take them into custody and isolate them from their parents for interrogation.

“He’s a big man and brings that presence to the film. He towers over the children, both physically and in terms of authority. Goran can be intimidating, which is fantastic, because his job is to lay down the law,” said Volk.

“His character knows that hope, faith and prayer are powerful weapons. The establishment at the

time is threatened by this, as is he.”

Visnjic learned from his research that there were significant discrepancies in the historical record about how harsh Arturo was with the children.

“We decided that we didn’t want to portray him as a bad guy just for the sake of having a bad guy,” Visnjic said. “We wanted him to be a real person with legitimate motives for what he did. As mayor of the town where everything happens, he has to get to the bottom of the whole story. He does not believe the kids. He believes it is all superstition.”

The message at the heart of the film is quite simple, according to Visnjic: As human beings, we have to be good to each other.

“We have to pray for each other, we have to help each other, we have to be better people. Very simple. I don’t care who is giving me that message. There’s nothing negative in helping other people and living in a kind, helpful way.”

To play the parish priest, Fr Ferreira, who is equally motivated to get at the truth, the filmmakers turned to Lisbon’s busy theatre scene and discovered veteran actor Joaquim de Almeida.

He has starred in numerous films and television shows in the US, including Clear and Present Danger, Desperado and Fast Five.

Fluent in six languages, he is now based in Portugal and continues to work internationally.

Volk described De Almeida as warm and friendly, typical of the Portuguese natives he met during the production.

“He was just phenomenal to work with, really great on set,” the producer says. “With his background, we knew he would bring great heart and soul to the film.” n Fatima opened on August 28 in NuMetro cinemas. Please consult local listings for screening times.

Fatima: A Catholic reviewer’s verdict

REVIEWED BY JOHN MULDERIG

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A

FACT-BASED drama from director and co-writer Marco Pontecorvo, Fatima recounts what may rank as the most remarkable series of religious events of modern times. Namely, the 1917 apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children near the Portuguese town of the title.

Despite a few flaws, believers will find Pontecorvo’s chronicle congenial fare that’s suitable for all but the youngest viewers.

The narrative is told in flashbacks during a 1980s interview between fictional Professor Nichols, a dyed-in-the-wool sceptic, and the only one of the trio to have survived into adulthood, Carmelite Sister Lúcia dos Santos (Sônia Braga).

As the two spar over the reality of what Sr Lúcia experienced, the scene shifts to the very different times of her childhood.

The screenplay emphasises the context of World War I within which Mary’s message of prayer and repentance as the path to peace was delivered.

Thus we see the young Lúcia accompany her mother, Maria, to the periodic public announcement by Fátima’s mayor, Arturo, of local casualties in the global struggle.

A scene from the new film Fatima, which went on circuit in South Africa on Friday. It is reviewed here by John Mulderig.

Though devout, Maria is consumed by anxiety over the fate of Lucia’s older brother Manuel, who is serving with the Portuguese forces.

The other primary focus of the script is on the family and community conflicts that arose when news of Mary’s appearances to Lúcia and her two younger cousins, Jacinta and Francisco, spread.

Initially, both Maria and the local parish priest, Fr Ferreira (Joaquim De Almeida), are understandably doubtful

and try to convince the kids to recant.

So, too, does Arturo. As an official of Portugal’s nascent First Republic, established in 1910, Arturo is charged with carrying out its anti-clerical and more broadly anti-religious policies. So alleged visits from the “Lady of the Rosary”, as Mary identified herself to Lúcia and her companions, are the last thing he needs.

Fatima successfully portrays piety without yielding to sentimentality. But it fails to wrap up the loose ends of its story.

The justly celebrated “Miracle of the Sun”, which occurred during Mary’s last appearance on October 13, provides the movie with a spectacular built-in conclusion.

Yet the gentle dispute between Sr Lúcia and Professor Nichols is left hanging— nor do we get a sense of resolution about the strained relationships that prevailed before the children’s veracity was so strikingly vindicated.

This sense of incompleteness notwithstanding, Fatima is a welcome affirmation of faith in the midst of worldwide challenges to health and tranquility.

If nothing else made it timely, the reflection that Jacinta, aged nine, and Francisco, at a year older, both perished in the influenza pandemic that began in 1918, would serve to do so.—CNS

MINISTRY

The Southern Cross, September 2 to September 8, 2020

9

Our call to be prophetic in time of crisis In crisis, those who lead in the Church are called to be prophetic in their ministry.

FR PADDY NOONAN OFM explains how.

W

HEN your priestly, episcopal or religious service to humanity begins to be pressed beyond the limits of the familiar, then you are likely to behave, to think and to respond differently.

You may be jolted into questioning the values of your previous daily routine, values that once gave your life its meaning.

The Bible is full of these situations, especially in the lives of the prophets, who were so often asked to go far beyond, indeed, to break away from, their own previously comfortable lives.

Something else can happen to you too. The deeper you’re sucked into a convulsing human drama, the more real you seem to become.

The more you face yourself alone.

The more you interpret and reinterpret your vocation.

I think nowadays they call it a reality check. It affects pastoral ministry, too. You can easily find yourself in a no-man’s-land of Church ministry and practice.

For example, in critical times of major social threat or change, should priests remain in their church rectories and leave “politics” to the laity? At what point must we realise that it’s time to act together?

When there is a tragic death, should we insist on ministering to the deceased of our own denomination only? Or should we use this as an occasion to preach our own Church dogmas, deities and doctrines?

Should we be unduly concerned about conformity, clerical decorum or the precision of rubrics when carrying out our duties to the troubled people of God in life threatening circumstances?

There is nothing in pastoral manuals about “crisis ministry”.

When great human suffering strikes the parish or diocese and bangs urgently at grand presbytery doors what do we do?

Traditionally, ministers and priests of the world are obliged to discern prayerfully what steps to take in any urgent pastoral situation. That’s my own experience.

Who predicted weather?

In the time of Christ I’m not sure who did the job of explaining the weather. Was it the astrologists or just some gifted people?

But somebody did weather forecasting for the farmers of that time.

It was always like that. Nature had to be understood. (See Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’).

Like South African weather people, ancient weather men would have been much appreciated for their forecasting abilities especially in the rural communities of Christ’s time.

Jesus couldn’t help but notice their concern for the elements and typically one day he brought it into his teaching. He was cross with the

crowd, possibly with some farmers, because, for all their religion, they were losing heart! They didn’t grasp the situation!

He thought they should have known better. He chastised them for not decoding, not reading, not discerning the signs of the times.

They couldn’t see that times were a-changing. Something new was afoot. They didn’t see him as the greatest changemaker that ever lived.

And one fine day he snapped: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain’, and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot’, and it is.

“Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?” (Lk 12:56) Are we trying to interpret the present times? Or are we a veiled hindrance? Some of us are following conspiracy theories more bizarre than even The Da Vinci Code!

and passive resistance. It was a ministry of not just witnessing but opening the door to the beginning of the end of apartheid.

As pastors and priests we knew that this was the ultimate peacebuilding solution for our country, based on John 10:10: “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full.”

• Finally, as black and white clergy involved in a rolling black uprising, our united public presence and ministry at key moments and places was in itself a powerful sign of present and future racial reconciliation.

A ministry of reconciliation! I remain convinced that the common pastoral decisions, actions and liturgies we undertook in the 1980s saved our townships, and the nation, from the bloodbath anticipated by the world media at the time of the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994.

Unknown ecumenism

Lessons from struggle

The following is an attempt to Seminarians of St John Vianney in Pretoria march on the Union tease out some experiences of past Buildings in the 1980s, giving prophetic witness in the struggle against ministry that took place, of neces- apartheid. (Photo colourised) sity, in circumstances far beyond Monitoring and “mentoring” soour control or imagination. It was ations. Pastors will share, analyse, pray, listen and risk their own local ciety from our Christian perspecduring political unrest. tive drew Church people into a Lockdown also happened in solutions. deeper spiritual togetherness, South Africa in this period. And the Seven crisis ministries which has endured to this day. clergy rallied, driven by prophetic The following are seven emerPope Francis vividly describes voices that had been there, unrecognised or emerged only when gency ministries that worked dur- this ministry: “What is necessary is ing political shutdowns in South proximity: to embrace, kiss, touch, crisis broke upon us. hug a son or a daughter. When the It’s so important to recognise Africa.

• Underpinning our apostolic Church neglects this proximity, it them at the right moment and not be diverted by jaded voices advo- service was, firstly, a ministry of is like a mother who communicates cating traditional “prudence” even peacemaking, which implied, in with her son [only] in a letter.”

Clearly the physical acts do not in abnormal times. The Holy the long term, trying to understand Spirit, fortunately, doesn’t work and interpret the “signs of the apply during the coronavirus critimes” in the light of Luke sis, but the point of proximity is that way.

12:56: ‘You superficial peo- important. New forms of radical Yes, during the uprisple! You understand the ministry do apply; and are called ings in South Africa in Don’t be signs of the earth and the for. the 1980s, we priests • Thirdly, we engaged in a minand ministers of all dediverted by sky, but you don’t understand the present times.’ istry of solidarity with the poor nominations did plan • Secondly, we engaged and oppressed. They knew we were together; and together jaded voices in a ministry of presence, there for them. They and their leadwe prayed. We did take advocating where priests and minis- ers knew that when the governrisks together; and we were arrested and taken ‘prudence’ ters, frequently under the ment banned their meetings in auspices of a local branch schools and municipal halls, to court together. Toeven in of the South African Coun- church premises would be availgether we did fear the of Churches, pastorally able. This was cutting-edge minpolice and army, but toabnormal cil planned and coordinated istry. gether we never stopped our Christian witness on • Fourthly, we had a ministry of trying. times the streets, in order to keep intervention which was a kind of And we did ecupace with our fast-chang- “clerical task force”, on call 24 menism—but we never hours a day to intervene anywhere called it “ecumenism”. We just did ing environment.

Christian presence is so impor- and at any time. it because it was the right thing to We were called upon during do; it was the human thing to do; tant in all situations of conflict riots, in clashes between police and the Christian thing to do; the love even today.

During apartheid, especially in people, as a compassionate and thing to do; the compassion thing its final years when the system was symbolic presence after sudden to do.

As local Church leaders we were unbundling and generally falling massacres, for hospital visitation of expected to be out there at the apart on the streets of South Africa, the injured and wounded…

There was also a more subtle forefront, at the cutting edge of the ministry of pastoral presence priestly ministry: that of convincapartheid society where God, we took on a new meaning.

Ministers and priests constantly ing people that freedom was possiknew from Exodus 3:7, was the one who sees the misery, hears the gathered community leaders to- ble and that the present turmoil cries and knows the suffering of gether for crisis consultations, in- might be ultimately connected to terpreting events daily with the it. his people.

It implied a ministry of postulatLooking back much later, when people, organising community futhe dust had settled on a new South nerals after massacres and police ing a new order, in our case “regime Africa, it was clear to me that the killings, actively monitoring ar- change”—at a time when no one success of our “crisis ministry” was rests, supporting treason trialists dared think that far ahead.

A feature of this ministry was almost certainly due to the pastoral and generally being a public sign of and ecumenical character of our hope and “shepherding” presence that of guiding resistance and disin the streets. sent into active non-violent action initiatives.

The following discussion of emergency pastoral ministry is obviously not a blueprint for all situ-

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As I said, in all of this the word “ecumenism” wasn’t mentioned.

Some churchmen or women didn’t even know what the word meant, and they didn’t care.

They didn’t come together because their Church leaders told them to, but out of human necessity, out of terrible need.

Fighting the common enemy, apartheid, was enough to bring the churches out into the streets. It became a living ecumenism, a ministry of ecumenism.

We were united by a sense of compassion and concern for the excluded. We were united by faith, life and action. We were united by our opposition to sin, the sin of division, the sin of separateness.

We were united by the spirit of Christ, who still crosses pastoral boundaries in his compassion for the underdog, the brokenhearted, the sick, the outsiders and the sinners.

It has been estimated that by 2025 most Christians will be living in the southern hemisphere and will be starting to determine the future of Christianity. Perhaps it is from there, too, that future ecumenism and interfaith dialogue will find new hope and new creative impetus.

Millions of South Africans have never forgotten the prophetic role of the churches in their time of need.

Today religious and laity are dying on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. They are the martyrs and saints of the future.

They have taken the Maximilian Kolbe option to die so that others may live. Truly may they rest in peace.

The world awaits further daring Christian responses to the coronavirus evil because now we are “doing theology at the coalface of experience”, in the words of Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg. That makes a huge difference. n Franciscan Father Paddy Noonan has worked for decades in the archdiocese of Johannesburg and is the author of several books, including They’re Burning the Churches and Help!

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10

the Southern cross, September 2 to September 8, 2020

HOLY LAND

From left: Pilgrims pray outside Station VI (Veronica wipes Jesus’ face) on the Via Dolorosa • Station III in the Polish chapel: Jesus falls for the first time as a host of angels looks on in horror • Pilgrims bend below the Orthodox altar in the church of the Holy Sepulchre to touch the spot on which the cross stood. (All photos: Günther Simmermacher)

Walking the Via Dolorosa In part 16 of our virtual pilgrimage to the Holy Land, we continue with GüntHer SImmermAcHer on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem.

L

AST week we began our way on the Via Dolorosa. This week we continue at Station III, which recalls the first of Jesus’ three falls.

The Gospels don’t record Jesus stumbling under the weight of his patibulum (or crossbar). The popular image has Jesus dragging the huge cross on which he soon would be nailed.

More likely, he was made to carry just the crossbeam over his scourged shoulders, which must have been an even greater torture.

It seems inevitable that a man in that condition bearing such a load, probably walking uphill, would have stumbled a few times.

The chapel at Station III was built in the 19th century by ethnic Armenian Catholic Poles. Inside the church is a striking tableaux of Jesus falling under the weight of the cross as a line-up of horrified angels, depicted in a mural, look on.

Station IV—Jesus meets his mother—is also not recorded in the Gospels. It is marked by a relief above the entrance to the Armenian Catholic oratory, Our Lady of the Spasm, next to the Polish Catholic chapel.

The oratory, built above a Byzantine church, includes a 6thcentury mosaic of a pair of sandals that is said to mark the spot where Mary stood as her son passed by.

In the courtyard, an outdoor restaurant offers refreshments.

Station V, on the site where in 1229 the Franciscans built their first house in Jerusalem, commemorates Simon of Cyrene being pulled from the crowd to help Jesus. The station’s chapel features a modern sculpture of that event.

On the exterior wall of the chapel is an indentation which legend says is Jesus’ handprint.

Pilgrims traditionally touch “Jesus’ hand” (though in times of greater hygiene awareness, that custom may fade).

At Station VI, Veronica wipes Our Lord’s face—marked in a Melkite Catholic chapel that

rarely is open to the public—another story that does not feature in the Gospels.

The tradition that Jesus’ face superimposed itself upon Veronica’s veil dates from the 4th or 5th century.

It is not really important, of course, whether there was a Veronica or her hanky: the sixth station counsels us to be merciful towards the condemned as we hope for mercy ourselves, and to find the face of God in them as Veronica did on her cloth. It is a powerful metaphor.

Station VII, which marks the second fall, is a 19th-century Franciscan chapel that is now used by Catholic Copts.

The mourning women At Station VIII, next to the Greek Orthodox monastery of St Charalampus, we recall Jesus making his final public address as he comforts the pious women of Jerusalem (Luke 23:27-31).

It is notable that it is the women who have followed Jesus to this point, just as it is almost exclusively a group of women that holds vigil as Jesus is dying on the cross (we must presume that they are among the women whom Jesus comforts).

The disciples, apart from John, have long made tracks and are nowhere to be seen. And they were wise to go underground, just in case their association with Jesus might put them in difficulties.

In any case, it was the task of women to comfort the dying and bury them (some could be hired for that task for the friendless), so the disciples might have kept away even if they had perceived no danger.

After the encounter with the grieving women, the pilgrim leaves the bustle of the Via Dolorosa and ascends 28 steps which lead to Station IX, which marks the third fall, at the entrance to the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Coptic Orthodox monasteries, both dedicated to St Anthony the Great, the Desert Father.

Before the two churches split in 1959, this was all one complex. To put it delicately, the monks of the two churches do not always radiate the warmest of fraternal love.

The Friday afternoon Stations of the Cross procession led by the Franciscan friars turns around at this point and proceeds to the

Pilgrims pray at the stone of unction in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, held to be the spot where Jesus’ dead body was prepared for burial. courtyard of the church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The remaining stations, all inside the church of the Holy Sepulchre, are difficult to follow as a group. Many groups pray these on the flat roof of the church.

They then proceed through a small entrance which leads into the Ethiopians’ upper chapel.

From there, a flight of stairs leads to an entrance to the interior of the basilica.

Station X—Jesus is stripped of his garments—is located at the chapel of the Franks, the name of which refers not to Charlemagne’s nation but to the Franciscans. The exterior of the chapel is the place in the church’s courtyard where many pilgrim groups used to have their photo taken as they stood on its steps.

On the level above the chapel are the remaining stations but one: Jesus is nailed to the cross; Jesus dies on the cross; and Jesus is taken down from the cross.

Stations XI and XII are, as one would expect, next to one another in an open-plan layout. Station XI is a Catholic chapel; Station XII is a Greek Orthodox chapel.

In appearance, the Catholic and Greek chapels provide quite a contrast. The Catholic chapel is relatively modern, save for the Crusader mosaic of the Ascension on the ceiling and the 16th-cen-

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tury brass altar donated by the Medici family in Florence. It is sober and suitably sombre.

The Greek Orthodox chapel, on the other hand, is quite gaudy and light, which seems at odds with the drama the spot marks: the crucifixion.

Through a hole below the altar one can touch the rock on which once stood the Saviour’s cross, and through acrylic glass one can view the rock of Golgotha.

We leave the upper level of the church—the height of Golgotha— and descend to Station XIII, the Stone of Unction, opposite the church’s main entrance. Here Jesus’ lifeless body was anointed and prepared for entombment.

It’s a shiny limestone slab above which hang exquisite lamps which were contributed by the Armenians, Copts, Greeks and Catholics.

The slab is not the original Stone of Unction. That one has long disappeared; the current slab dates from 1808, and it replaced a stone from the 1100s.

The crucifixion is the dramatic climax to the story of the Incarnation. We feel grief over Jesus’ suffering and death—even though we already know that the story has a happy ending.

And that triumphant climax is set in the final station, housed in the edicule in the magnificent rotunda of the basilica.

Burying Jesus Jesus’ execution was unfavourably timed for those tasked with his burial. On the one hand, Jewish law demanded that the corpse be buried or interred within 24 hours of death.

On the other hand, Jesus died at 3pm on a Friday, just a few hours before dusk would descend upon Jerusalem, announcing the beginning of the Sabbath.

There was no time to dig a grave, so Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy man and apparently a follower of Jesus, came to the rescue,

offering his as yet unused tomb in the Garden of Golgotha.

Of course, God guided Joseph.

But in an alternative history, had Joseph not offered his tomb, then Jesus’ lifeless body would have been left to scavenging wildlife or disposed of in the same way as those of other people of meagre means—such as Jesus’ family.

It would have been wrapped in a cloth, perhaps placed in a wooden coffin, and buried at Potters Fields (Matthew 27:7-8), the kind of place where the corpses of crucified people were buried.

Instead of being buried in the ground or left to scavengers, Jesus’ washed and shrouded body was placed on a ledge in Joseph’s tomb, which was then closed with a stone to protect it from wild animals.

That stone probably wasn’t very big; the tomb’s opening was so low, one had to go almost down on one’s knees to enter it.

It possibly wasn’t round either.

Disc-shaped stones were quite rare until Byzantine times; the more usual shape for these protective stones was square.

In 722 the pilgrim Willibald described the stone he saw in the church of the Holy Sepulchre as square. By the 8th century, round stones had become fashionable.

Willibald’s specific description of the stone suggests that the tomb from which Christ rose from the dead had been remembered as having been enclosed with a square stone.

Place of the Resurrection One might imagine that today the place of the Saviour’s Resurrection would command a reverential hush, but the place is quite noisy much of the time, with the sounds of different liturgies of diverse denominations and the voices of hundreds of pilgrims, visitors and monks echoing through the huge church.

And then there are all the liturgical smells, which lend the church an otherworldly atmosphere.

Most likely, pilgrims will need to queue around the edicule for quite a while before getting access to the tiny room that houses the tomb, or at least the stone ledge on which Jesus’ dead body, wrapped in a shroud of linen, was left and from which the Christ rose from the dead.

There is little time to pray there, and the Greek Orthodox monk will usher pilgrims out quickly, so that others from the long queue may come in.

That’s how it has to be, but the place of the zenith of the earthly journey of our Saviour can be feel something of an anti-climax— until one remembers that no spot on earth is greater than this, the very place where Christ Jesus rose from death. n This is an edited extract from Günther Simmermacher’s The Holy Land Trek. Next week: The church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The Southern Cross, September 2 to September 8, 2020

YOUR CLASSIFIEDS

Sr Ursula Hinchion MSA

M

ISSIONARY Sister of the Assumption Ursula (Mary Theresa) Hinchion passed away peacefully on August 3, aged 82, in the Buckingham Road Convent in Port Elizabeth, after a long illness borne with courage, dignity and grace.

Sr Hinchion was born in Cork, Ireland, on May 25, 1938, and after her education at the Presentation Convent, entered the Missionary Sisters of the Assumption (MSA) in November 1955.

She came to South Africa and made her first profession in Grahamstown in July 1958.

Sr Hinchion trained at the Grahamstown Teachers’ Training College, and her teaching career spanned almost the next 30 years in Grahamstown, Pretoria North, and Maryvale, Johannesburg.

This period was punctuated with study leave and spirituality training in Ireland, as well as some months caring for her ill mother in Cork.

Sr Hinchion had already served the MSA as administrator, community leader, formator and general councillor when she was elected for two six-year terms from 1988-99 as congregation leader.

These titles and offices hardly

begin to do justice to Sr Hinchion’s missionary zeal. She readily supported some of the nurses of the congregation in their call to care for the terminally ill in the HIV/Aids hospice in Johannesburg.

After her death, messages poured in to pay tribute to her wholehearted involvement in community service through the St Vincent de Paul Society, her generous availability to offer a listening ear to many, her participation in groups sharing scripture and prayer, and her ever-welcoming hospitality.

A well-deserved sabbatical at St Bueno’s in Wales after her spell as congregation leader was followed by a period as community leader in Port Alfred and then in Ballynahinch, County Down in Northern Ireland, before Sr Ursula returned to South Africa, once more serving as community leader in the novitiate in Grahamstown (Makhanda) and general councillor.

These last offices she quietly resigned in August 2019 owing to her deteriorating health. Sr Ursula then moved to Port Elizabeth where she was cared for with great compassion until her death a year later.

The congregation is grateful to its own Sisters and carers and

the medical doctors who did everything in their power to alleviate Sr Ursula’s suffering, and several priests of the diocese, especially Fr Vales Dania who regularly visited her and administered the last sacraments to her.

The Mass to celebrate Sr Ursula’s life was held on August 7 in St Bernadette’s church, Walmer, where Mgr Brendan Deenihan was joined on the altar by Mgr John Clarke and Fr Jonathan Vermaak CO. In the congregation (in compliance with Covid-19 protocol) were socially-distanced Frs Max Salsone, Vales Dania, Thembalethu Mana and Runaine Radine, together with Sisters and friends.

Sr Ann Genevieve MSA

72 Years Ago: September 1, 1948

Southern Cross editor resigns Fr Owen McCann has resigned as editor of The Southern Cross after leading the newspaper for seven years. He will now take over the position of administrator of Cape Town’s St Mary’s cathedral.

The alumnus of St Joseph’s Marist College and bachelor of commerce graduate became editor in 1941, shortly after the outbreak of World War II. He soon found the technical difficulties of producing a national weekly during war arduous. Yet, during his editorship, the circulation of The Southern Cross increased.

Fr McCann will be succeeded by Fr Louis Stubbs of Maitland, Cape Town.

New church in Jo’burg blessed The first portion of the church of Bl Martin de Porres in Craighall Park, Johannesburg, consisting of the sanctuary, sacristy and side chapel, has been blessed

by Bishop William Whelan.

Russian Orthodox slam the pope The Russian Orthodox Church, led by pro-Soviet Patriarch Alexi, has at its synod adopted a resolution declaring the papacy “the centre of international fascism”. However, the masses of the Catholic faithful “are not responsible for the crimes of the Vatican”.

Editorial: Defend all human rights In his editorial, Fr McCann writes that Christians “must oppose totalitarianism under its communist as well as its Nazi form. They must defend human rights because those rights have been given to human beings by God himself. And those rights are nothing else but man’s obligations towards God.”

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PRAYERS

O LORD may everything we do begin with your inspiration, continue with your help, and reach perfection under your guidance. My past life, O God, to your mercy, my present life to your love, my future life to your providence.

O MARY Immaculate Queen, look down upon this distressed and suffering

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 930. ACROSS: 1 Call, 3 Epistles, 9 Unction, 10 Rocky, 11 Indoctrinate, 13 Iconic, 15 Escrow, 17 Plain clothes, 20 Osaka, 21 Overdue, 22 Top bells, 23 Iris. DOWN: 1 Crucifix, 2 Lucid, 4 Pantry, 5 Spring shower, 6 Locater, 7 Says, 8 Discriminate, 12 Twisters, 14 Oil lamp, 16 School, 18 Hider, 19 Boat.

world. Thou knowest our misery and our weakness. O Thou who art our Mother, saving us in the hour of peril, have compassion on us in these days of great and heavy trial. Jesus has confided to Thee the treasure of His Grace, and through Thee He wills to grant us pardon and mercy. In these hours of anguish, therefore, thy children come to Thee as their hope. We recognise thy Queenship and ardently desire thy triumph. We need a Mother and a Mother's Heart. Thou art for us the luminous dawn which dissipates our darkness and points out the way to life. In thy clemency obtain for us the courage and the confidence of which we have such need. Most Holy and Adorable Trinity, Thou Who didst crown with glory in Heaven the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Saviour, grant that all her children on Earth may acknowledge her as their Sovereign Queen, that all hearts, homes, and nations may recognise her rights as Mother and as Queen. Amen.

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Liturgical Calendar Year A – Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday September 6, 23rd Sunday of the Year Ezekiel 33:7-9, Psalms 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9, Romans 13:8-10, Matthew 18:15-20 Monday September 7 1 Corinthians 5:1-8, Psalms 5:5-6, 7, 12, Luke 6:6-11 Tuesday September 8, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Micah 5:1-4a or Romans 8:28-30, Psalms 13:6, 6, Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23 Wednesday September 9, St Peter Claver 1 Corinthians 7:25-31, Psalms 45:11-12, 14-15, 16-17, Luke 6:20-26 Thursday September 10 1 Corinthians 8:1b-7, 11-13, Psalms 139:1-3, 13-14, 23-24, Luke 6:27-38 Friday September 11 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22b-27, Psalms 84:3, 4, 5-6, 12, Luke 6:39-42 Saturday September 12 1 Corinthians 10:14-22, Psalms 116:

12-13, 17-18, Luke 6:43-49 Sunday September 13, 24th Sunday of the year Sirach 27:30 – 28:7, Psalms 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12, Romans 14: 7-9, Matthew 18:21-35

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24th Sunday: September 13 Readings: Sirach 27:30-28:7; Psalm 103:1-4, 9-12; Romans 14:7-9; Matthew 18:21-35 HAT about this business of forgiveness? It is enormously tempting to hug the wrongs that have been done to us, and to proclaim: “I’m going to get my revenge for this.”

That is what our first reading is counselling against: “The vengeful will get the Lord’s vengeance; the Lord will take account of their sins.” So what are we to do? “Forgive your neighbour for his injustice.” And as we rise up in our wrath, he adds: “Then when you pray your sins will be forgiven.”

We can’t expect to “nourish anger against someone else and then ask for healing from the Lord”. We are warned to “remember the last things and put an end to enmity; remember destruction and death, and stick to the commandments”. He advises us to “steer clear of fighting, and you will reduce the number of your sins; for an angry man lights the fuse for battles; and a sinful man upsets friends”.

This is not bad advice, even though there may be moments when righteous anger is appropriate.

The psalm invites us to “remember all God’s gifts”, not least among them his attitude to our sinfulness. God “forgives all our sins, heals all our diseases [and] surrounds us with steadfast love and mercy”.

And if you find yourself saying, “Well, that’s all well and good, but do you realise what that person did to me?”, then listen to God’s attitude: “God has not always dealt

W

Why we have to forgive with us according to our sins.”

Now think about that for a bit. God, you see, is different: “As the heavens are high above the earth, so God’s love is high above those who fear him.” And, most remarkable of all: “As far as the West is from the East, that is how far God has removed our sins from us.”

The point is, as Paul argues in the second reading, that “if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord…we belong to the Lord”. In the end, Christ has died for absolutely everybody, “that he might exercise lordship over the dead and the living”.

If we can only recognise Christ’s lordship, then we shall see that forgiveness on our part, difficult though it can undoubtedly be at times, is only a pale imitation of what Jesus has already done for us.

The Gospel represents the duty of forgiveness in a way that is, I think, meant to make us laugh. It starts with Peter trying to get his head round this impossible business of pardoning people. He gets out his calculator and asks: “How often is my fellow-Christian to sin against me and I forgive them?” Then he thinks of the largest imaginable number: “As many as…seven times?” Jesus, possibly with a twinkle in his eye, suggests: “What about seventy times seven?” That’s right: 490 times!

So Jesus tells one of his stories; and there is certainly humour here, as he recounts the

T

Classic Conrad

There are many motives for why we want to be good, but the one that disguises itself as a grace and is really a negative temptation is this one: be good because of the respect, admiration, and permanent good name it will win you, for the genuine glory that this brings.

This is the temptation faced by a good person. Wanting a good name is not a bad thing, but in the end it’s still about ourselves.

In my more reflective moments, I’m haunted by this and left with self-doubts.

Am I really doing what I am doing for Jesus, for others, for the world? Or am I doing it for my own good name, and how I can then feel good about that?

Am I doing it so that others might lead fuller, less fearful lives, or am I doing it for the respect it garners for me? When I’m teaching is my real motivation to make others fall in love with Jesus, or to have them admire me for my insights? When I write books and articles, am I really trying to dispense wisdom, or am I trying to show how wise I am? It this about God or about me?

Struggle against selfishness Perhaps we can never really answer these questions since our motivation is always mixed and it’s impossible to sort this out exactly. But still, we owe it to others and to ourselves to scrutinise ourselves over this in prayer, in conscience, in spiritual di-

‘Interesting.

So, it’s a vuvuzela, you say?’

Church Chuckles

demand as has just been made of him, and indeed tries to strangle Slave No. 2, who uses the same prayer: “Give me a bit of patience and I’ll repay you.”

And of course, Slave No. 1 has forgotten the dialogue he has just had with the emperor (and we are surely meant to laugh at this foolishness), and flings his fellow-slave in prison.

So some of their fellow slaves tell the emperor, who is furious: “Was it not necessary for you to have mercy on your fellow-slave, as I mercied you?” And at that point we remember that Matthew’s version of the beatitudes included “congratulations to the merciful, for they shall be mercied”.

And this whole story now appears as a humorous dramatisation of that beatitude, as Slave No. 1 is sent off to the torturers “until he should pay back all that was owed”. Surely there is a twinkle in Jesus’ eye as he says this: “So my Father, the Heavenly one, will treat you, unless you each forgive your brother or sister from your hearts.”

There is nothing in Matthew’s Gospel that suggests that Jesus looked on his Father as an angry sadist; but there is a lesson for us here.

What are you going to do about forgiveness, this week?

Southern Crossword #930

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

rection, and in discussion with others.

How do we overcome that “last temptation”, to do the right things and not make it about ourselves?

The struggle to overcome selfishness and motivate ourselves by a clear, honest altruism can be an impossible battle to win. Classically, the churches have told us there are seven deadly sins (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, sloth) that are tied to our very nature and with which we will struggle our whole lives.

And the problem is that the more we seem to overcome them, the more they manage to simply disguise themselves in more subtle forms in our lives.

For example, take Jesus’ counsel to not be proud. So we don’t take the most prestigious place at table and then be embarrassed by being asked to move to a lower place, but rather humbly take the lowest seat so as to be invited to move higher.

That’s sound practical advice, no doubt, but it can also be a recipe for a pride we can really be proud of. Once we have displayed our humility and been publicly recognised for it, then we can feel a truly superior pride in how humble we’ve been!

It’s the same for all of the deadly sins.

As we succeed in not giving in to crasser temptations, they re-root themselves in subtler forms within us.

Our faults display themselves publicly and crassly when we’re immature, but the hard fact is that they generally don’t disappear when we are mature. They simply take on more subtle forms.

For instance, when I’m immature and wrapped up in my own life and ambitions, I might not give much thought to helping the poor. Then, when I’m older, more mature and more theologically schooled, I will write articles publicly confessing that we all should be doing more for the poor.

Well, challenging myself and others to be more attentive to the poor is in fact a good thing… and while that might not help the poor very much, it will certainly help me to feel better about myself.

How do we ever get beyond this, this last temptation, to do the right thing for the wrong reason?

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Sunday Reflections

anecdote of someone like the Emperor of Rome “who wanted to draw up accounts with his slaves”. Now there is already humour here, because emperors of Rome do not “draw up accounts”; they just take.

Then we watch as the slaves (actually only one of them: Slave No. 1, we shall call him) are dragged before the emperor. And this one owes “ten thousand talents (!)”. That is an immense sum, and there is absolutely no possibility of a slave being allowed to accumulate a debt of this sort, so allow yourself a wry smile.

Not surprisingly, Slave No. 1 can’t quite repay, so he is ordered to be sold, along with his entire family. This will not precisely enable him to cross off the immense debt, but that is another story. Slave No. 1’s reaction is interesting: “Give me a bit of patience, and I shall pay back the whole lot.” He could not possibly do that, of course, for the sum he owes is equivalent to the Gross National Product of many countries today.

But to our astonishment, we hear that “the Lord of that slave was gutted, and let him off the whole debt”. Which is not precisely the action recommended in the training school for would-be emperors. Now look at what happens next.

Because Slave No. 1 now goes out and meets another, Slave No. 2, who owes him a relatively small sum; and he makes the same

The last temptation: Pride HE “last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason”, wrote T.S. Eliot.

Those words describe how difficult it is to purge our motivation of selfish concerns, to do things for reasons that are not ultimately about ourselves.

In Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral, his main character is Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury who is martyred for his faith. From every outward appearance, Becket is a saint, unselfish, motivated by faith and love.

But as Eliot teases out in Murder in the Cathedral, the outward narrative doesn’t tell the deeper story, doesn’t show what’s more radically at issue.

It’s not that Thomas Becket wasn’t a saint or wasn’t honest in his motivation for doing good works. Rather, there’s still a “last temptation” that he needed to overcome on the road to becoming a full saint.

Beneath the surface narrative there’s always a deeper, more subtle, invisible moral battle going on—a “last temptation” that must be overcome. What’s that temptation?

It’s a temptation that comes disguised as a grace and tempts us in this way: be unselfish, be faithful, do good things, never compromise the truth, be about others, carry your solitude at a high level, be above the mediocrity of the crowd, be that exceptional moral person, accept martyrdom if it is asked of you. But for what reason?

Nicholas King SJ

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ACROSS

DOWN

1. Summon to ordination? (4) 3. St Paul’s literary efforts (8) 9. Sacrament that was extreme (7) 10. Rough road that’s unsteady (5) 11. Give instruction forcefully (12) 13. Like an image in a Byzantine church (6) 15. A conditional deed found in Masses crowded (6) 17. Mufti for priests and police officers (5,7) 20. City of a Japanese bishop (5) 21. Not arrived on time (7) 22. From on high they may call you to Mass (3,5) 23. Has she her eye on you?

(4)

1. Christian symbol (8) 2. Clear and easy to understand (5) 4. Kitchen utensil to test near the kitchen (6) 5. Seasonal demonstrator brings seasonal rain (6,6) 6. One who finds what you’ve mislaid (7) 7. Speaks (4) 8. I’d met Sir Cain to make an unjust distinction (12) 12. The swindlers in the tornadoes (8) 14. It was carried by the wise and the foolish virgins (Mt 25) (3,4) 16. The educator is at it (6) 18. One you can’t trace easily (5) 19. Peter stepped out of it (Mt Solutions on page 11 14) (4)

CHURCH CHUCKLE Mary had just put little Jesus to bed as she and Joseph were sitting in their room in Egypt. Mary looked thoughtful, so Joseph asked what was wrong.

“Oh nothing, Joe, we’re just living the dream.” *

*

*

Next day Mary and Joseph were having breakfast when Mary looked up from her coffee and said: “You know, Joe, at the end of my life, I’ll go straight up to heaven.”

Joseph replied: “Wow, Mary, now that’s quite an assumption.

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