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RAYMOND PERRIER: Who’ll wear the red hat?

ST THÉRÈSE AS JOAN OF ARC

FR RON ROLHEISER: Can we prove God exists?

Southern Cross

Est. 1920

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The Catholic Magazine for Southern Africa

October 2021

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Focus on vocations INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR MPHUTHUMI NTABENI

SAINT OF THE MONTH: POPE ST JOHN XXIII

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Est. 1920

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101 years and counting

I

the monthly issues, this special edition may be T IS JUST OVER A yEAR AGO THAT circulated widely — The Southern Cross published for the indeed, please share it last time as a weekly newspaper. That with many people by final edition appeared, in digital format, whatever means, so that only a few weeks short of the publication’s they may get to know The Southern Cross. centenary in October. But the Holy Spirit The feedback we have received over didn’t allow The Southern Cross to fade the past year indicates that, in content and away. The title marked its 100th anniverpresentation, we are on the right track. For sary by relaunching as a monthly magaexample, the writer of one e-mail from the zine. And we are still here today, at the United States — where there is a broad vaage of 101! riety of Catholic publications — told us that There is no vainglory in describing this he wished there was something as good as as a minor miracle. The magazine has surThe Southern Cross where he lives. vived its first year with no subsidies, no We believe that in every issue, there is financial reserves, and with cash that tricksomething for every Catholic, and some les rather than flows. We have survived things for all Catholics. two lockdowns this year, during which all Perhaps the greatest threat to The churches were closed. And we are still Southern Cross resides in that favoured tool here! Surely the Holy Spirit has carried us of the devil — indifference. Sadly, that parover the treacherous waters so that ticular spiritual malaise has infected much The Southern Cross may continue to fulfil of the Church, especially in the area of soits important role in the cial communications. apostolic life of Southern Each edition has Imagine the early Africa’s Catholic Church — Church leaders had been something for both as a monthly magaindifferent to the writings zine and through its lively every Catholic, and of the evangelists, or disdigital presence. some things for all couraged reading the But for The Southern Church Fathers! How are Cross to continue doing so will require the we to evangelise if we do not use the tools support of the Catholic of social communications? These include community: from the bishops, clergy, relithe printed media, which have a greater gious and laity. Such support can be material permanence than short-lived posts on — our Associates Campaign is a good way of social media or blogs. ensuring the magazine’s economic survival Where is the sense of Catholic (see page 11). But, just as importantly, we identity when — contrary to the appeals of need the Catholic community to promote successive popes — only few Catholic the magazine. Parishes and sodalities play a homes have a Catholic publication on the crucial role in helping to build interest in and proverbial coffee table? enthusiasm for The Southern Cross. Let’s Guided by the Holy Spirit, we hope shout the merits of the magazine from the to help overcome that indifference by rooftops — and the pulpits! continuing to produce, for many more One way of doing so is by sharing years yet, a quality magazine that edifies, widely our free special digital anthology evangelises, elucidates and entertains. edition, which showcases of some of our We are most grateful to those who are best items over the past year. It will come already supporting The Southern Cross with out on october 12 (see page 15). Unlike such love and enthusiasm.

Thank you for reading The Southern Cross, and please pray for us in our social communications apostolate.

God bless,

Dear Reader,

Günther simmermacher (Editor)

Contents OCTOBER 2021 – MissiOn MOnTh

8

A Writer’s Catholic Vision Novelist Mphuthumi Ntabeni tells Daluxolo Moloantoa about his writing, influences and faith

10

The Consecrated Life Today Interview with Sr Nkhensani Shibambu, president of SA’s umbrella body for religious congregations

12

How to Become a Sister or Brother Fr Siphelele Gwanisheni OFM explains the steps of following a vocation to the consecrated life

14

Novices: This Is Our Vocation

12

Four novices speak about their vocation and what kind of religious Sisters they hope to be

21

Focus on the Consecrated Life

With pull-out poster!

The Long Life of a Pioneer Sister Sr Sola Schaumann FNS came to Zululand in 1955.

Recently she died at the age of 101

20

The First Southern Cross Editor Fr James Kelly built more than just a Catholic newspaper, as Dr Sandren Naidoo explains

23

How to Vote in Local Election With the local elections coming up, Mike Pothier looks at the Catholic ethics of voting

24

The Family’s Role in Educations Imelda Diouf looks at how education within families can affect the future prospects of children

26

How to Learn to be Catholic Fr Ralph de Hahn looks at the formation of today’s Catholics – and sees big problems in evangelisation

EVERY MONTH 5

FROM OUR VAULTS The Southern Cross 100 years ago

6

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED You ask, and our team of experts replies

17

SAINT OF THE MONTH The life of Pope St John XXIII

27

RAYMOND PERRIER Who will be a cardinal?

29

FR RON ROLHEISER OMI On proving God’s existence

30

PRAY WITH THE POPE Fr Chris Chatteris SJ reflects on the pope’s prayer intention for October on evangelisation

31

17 Saint of the

Pope St Jo

THE MILLENNIAL CATHOLIC Nthabiseng Maphisa on the Body of Christ

28

Catholic author Mphuthumi Ntabeni

8

Did you know?

In our digital ed ition, all links to websites are live.

Just click, and th e site opens in your br owser!

Try IT!

PRAYER CORNER Your illustrated prayers, to cut out and collect

32

TWO PAGES OF PUZZLES Two Crosswords, Wordsearch, Dropped Letters, Catholic Trivia Quiz, and Anagram Challenge

34

COOKING WITH SAINTS Grazia Barletta tries out recipes from the past.

This month: Polenta for a Sainted Pope

36

...AND FINALLY History in Colour, Inspiring Quotes on the Bible, and a Last Laugh

St Térèse as Joan of Arc in colour

36

Cover image: Precious Blood Sisters at their first profession (see caption on page 13. Photo courtesy Sr Fadzai Chivige CPS)

Month: hn XXIII

100 Years Ago: 8 October 1921

FROM OUR VAULTS Irish peace in sight?

British Prime Minister Lloyd George reportedly became more open towards the upcoming peace negotiations to end the Irish independence war after a visit to London earlier this year

by Fr Michael O’Flanagan, vice-president of the Irish independence party Sinn Féin.

Benoni shrine to Our Lady

A shrine in honour of Our Lady was erected at Benoni parish to celebrate a successful parish mission conducted by Redemptorist Father Hoyes. “A lamp is now burning before this shrine and will be kept burning for all time, it is hoped,” said parish priest Fr C Kempf OMI.

Editorial: Into the second year

In his editorial, Fr John Colgan notes that as The Southern Cross enters its second year, it has proven wrong the “gloomy pessimists who prophesied that…the venture was too ambitious”. The newspaper “has safely navigated the threatening seas it has sometimes encountered”.

An efficient Catholic press is necessary, because “if the Church of God was to continue its mission on earth, it would have to learn to wield the weapon of the press, which the enemies of the faith are using with such deadly effect”.

Fr Colgan, who became editor on October 1, also pays respect to his predecessor, Fr James Kelly. “The Southern Cross owes a great deal to his courage and optimism and his patient and persevering work.” (See also page 22)

What else made news in October 1921: See previous “From The Vaults” articles, with full scans of articles, at www.scross.co.za/vaults

• The government postpones the erection of the proposed grain elevator in Cape Town because the grain trade in the city is too small, but the erection of the Durban elevator will proceed. [The Cape Town silos were built at the port in 1924, and today house a gallery.]

• Portugal’s Prime Minister António Granjo and former president António Machado Santos are murdered in Lisbon by assassins opposed to the abolition of the monarchy.

• The German government resigns after the League of Nations awards the disputed territory of eastern Upper Silesia to Poland.

• The silent film The Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino, opens in the US. Right top: Pope Benedict XV’s appeal for the Catholic press.

Below: An ad for building materials — including asbestos!

Left: The front-page photo of Christian Brothers’ College in Kimberley, the issue’s only photograph.

The Southern Cross

5

What are sacraments and sacramentals?

Q. What is the difference between sacraments and sacramentals?

T

HE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE Church are liturgical celebrations.

They are visible signs and instruments instituted by Christ to spread his saving grace throughout the Church, which is his body.

For instance, in baptism the visible sign of washing with water is also the instrument of the spiritual cleansing from sin. Because only God can forgive sin, it is clear that baptism is the work of Christ himself through the mediation of human agents. Another example would be the sacrament of ordination to the priesthood. The visible sign is the imposition of the ordaining bishop’s hands on the head of the ordinand, designating this person as a sharer in Christ’s eternal priesthood. Only Christ can do this, so it is he who effects the sacrament through the ministry of the bishop.

Unlike the sacraments, sacramentals do not have a divine origin, nor are they effected by Christ’s direct action. They were instituted by the Church in the course of time, and in-

Bishop Duncan Tsoke confirms a young man in Robertsham, Johannesburg.

Confirmation is one of the Church’s seven sacraments. Photo: Mark Kisogloo

clude blessings of persons, meals, objects and places in Christ’s name, accompanied by the sign of the cross.

When sacred vestments or vessels are blessed for their function in the liturgy or when a sacred image or statue is blessed to be given a place of honour in a church or home, a prayer

Can we skip the amen?

Q. When the priest says, “Body of Christ”, is it ever appropriate to say something different, such as “yes”, “I believe” or even “thank you” — or even nothing at all? Could the priest refuse to distribute Communion to those who respond in this way?

T

HE RESPONSE TO “THE BODY of Christ” is always “amen”. In the liturgical guidelines, there is no suggestion of — or permission for — an alternative response. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal, the official “rulebook” of the Church on liturgy, says: “The priest raises the host slightly and shows it to each, saying, ‘the body of Christ’.

The communicant replies, ‘amen’, and receives the sacrament.”

The act of Communion is also an act of faith. The communicant’s “amen” — a declaration of affirmation which means as much as

6

The Southern Cross

“truly” or “it is so” — is a profession of belief in the presence of the saving Christ, body and blood, soul and divinity.

I’m sure that part of the reason for this universal conformity is to assure the dignity and respect that should surround the Eucharist. But what if the Church permitted creative variations, simply permitted recipients to say whatever they wanted? The examples “yes”, “I believe” and “thank you” are tame; but imagine if someone chose to say “I am very grateful” or even “This makes my day”. Might it then be difficult for those nearby to give their full attention to the sacred sacrament?

Should a priest refuse to give Communion to someone who uses a different response? I don’t think so; it does not mean that the person doesn’t believe in the Eucharist or is unworthy to receive it.

Your Questions answered Do you have questions about our faith? Send them to: editor@scross.co.za Subject line: Q&A

is included asking God for that blessing. This prayer is the Church’s prayer and so we can have confidence that God hears it.

For example, when a priest blesses a motor car he will pray in the Church’s name, asking God to protect from danger all who travel in it, and to bring them safely to the joyful end of their life’s journey.

Sacramentals are related to the sacraments because they contain a spiritual benefit that is due to the Church’s prayer of intercession. They dispose those who use them to be more sensitive to the awesomeness of the sacred, and so approach the sacraments with more reverence.

The blessing by which men and women are consecrated to the religious life is an example of rendering persons holy in the service of the Church.

(Michael Shackleton)

Photo: Pa ul Haring/C NS

If the recipient, however, made no response at all, the priest might wonder whether the person had ever received Communion before; I can imagine a priest, in that situation, quietly asking if the person were a Catholic — although my own tendency would be simply to give the benefit of the doubt.

(Fr Kenneth Doyle)

Who are the Marys in the Gospel?

Q. It seems that Mary was a popular name in the times of the Gospel.

Could you guide me through the individual women by that name in the New Testament?

T

HE NAME MARY — OR MARYAM in Syro-Aramaic, the language of Jesus — does indeed appear often in the Gospels: 54 times. The most famous of them is, of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Catholics require no introduction to the mother of Our Lord.

The second-most famous one is Mary Magdalene, and she may require a reintroduction to Catholics.

This follower of Jesus is often conflated with another Mary: the sister of Lazarus and Martha from Bethany in Judea. The conflation of the two Marys, with the added twist of prostitution and the woman caught in adultery, had its roots in a famous homily on Luke’s Gospel delivered by Pope Gregory the Great in 591. From there the idea of either of these, or their composite, as a repentant prostitute took hold, reinforced by depictions in art. In reality, there is no hint in Scripture to identify either one of these Marys, from Magdala or Bethany, as a sex worker or adulterer.

Mary Magdalene, the Gospels reveal, was a woman of independent means who accompanied Jesus and his band of followers on their itinerant way, supporting them materially.

She had suffered from demonic possession (or possibly a mental condition) which Jesus had healed, and she was held in high esteem by him. Famously she was the first person to announce the risen Christ, and is known as “The Apostle to the Apostles”.

The idea that Mary Magdalene was romantically involved with Jesus is the fiction of novelists which may

or may not draw from the medieval legend that she eventually found refuge in southern France.

Mary of Bethany is mentioned by name in John’s Gospel. Medieval Western Christianity, as mentioned before, conflated Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene and with the “sinful woman” — not a prostitute — who dries Jesus’ feet with her hair, kisses them and pours perfume from an alabaster jar on them.

John does mention Mary of Bethany as the woman who “poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair”. That Mary is probably the same Mary, sister of Martha, whom Luke refers to as sitting at the feet of the Master (10:38– 42). But — and in Scripture scholarship, always expect a “but” — Luke places that scene in Galilee, not in Bethany, which is near Jerusalem.

So the Mary and Martha in Luke might be separate people from the sisters of Lazarus in Bethany. Or Luke got his locations mixed up, and the are the same people.

From here on it gets even murkier with the Marys, but Catholic scholarship and tradition help us make sense of the various women named in the Gospels.

Mary, the wife of Clopas, gets a name-check in John 19:25 as one of the women standing at the cross during Christ’s crucifixion. The Evangelists can’t agree who exactly was at the cross. But the Catholic Church identifies her as “the other Mary” mentioned twice in Matthew. She was also the mother of James the Younger, whom Mark and Luke locate at the empty tomb.

Some conflate her with “Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee”

The chapel of the Three Marys in Jerusalem’s church of the Holy Sepulchre, looking up at Calvary. Depending on how you count them, there were three or four Marys at the foot of the cross at the crucifixion. Photo: Günther Simmermacher

in Matthew 27:55-56. But Catholic scholarship tends to identify Mrs Zebedee as Mary Salome. Catholic tradition also identifies her as the mother of John Mark, who joined Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journeys (Acts 12:12).

There is one more Mary in the New Testament: In his letter to the Romans, Paul asks the recipients to “greet Mary, who has worked hard for you” (16:6). Nothing more is known about her.

So, how many Marys were at the cross? It depends firstly on the Evangelist you trust most, and then on separating or conflating the various Marys. Catholic tradition settles on four: the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Clopas, and Mary Salome. Mark’s Gospel locates the latter three at the empty tomb on Easter morning.

(Günther Simmermacher)

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The Southern Cross

7

Novelist with a Catholic vision Catholic writer Mphuthumi Ntabeni is the author of two acclaimed novels. He talked to DALUXOLO MOLOANTOA about his writing, influences and faith.

E

8

ARLIER IN THE YEAR, THE Southern Cross asked: “Who will write the story of the Church in South Africa?” The Church is by no means short of those who can do it.

Award-winning writer Mphuthumi Ntabeni could be one of them. For the moment, though, he is telling the history of the Xhosa people — a history which is intertwined with early Christianity in South Africa — and the politics of identity in contemporary South Africa through his historical-fiction novels.

Loyal Southern Cross readers will remember Ntabeni as a regular columnist from 2007-20 (they can be found at scross.co.za/category/perspectives/ ntabeni/ . Born in Junction Village, near Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, Ntabeni received his primary schooling at Cwele Catholic School in Ngqeleni, near Mthata. He matriculated at Freemantle High School in Lady Frere — one of the oldest Methodist schools in the country — and is a graduate of the Wits University School of Architecture.

Although he received an early Catholic schooling, he was raised a Methodist, as most of the Mfengu clan people were. AmaMfengu were the early Xhosa Christian converts.

Ntabeni himself converted to Catholicism “after undergoing what I now call my first midlife crisis, at 23 years of age”. He recalls: “After high school I kind of became neglectful of my spiritual life. I was agnostic. But I never really lost the sense of God as the ground of all Being.

I’ve always found the historical Jesus — Yehoshua — the most fascinating person in all history.

“Then I was hit with what I would call an existential angst. I began my quest to figure out what the point is to all of this, which sometimes seems like ‘primordial absurdity’, in Camus’ language. I later realised that in The Southern Cross

Catholic spiritual language, it is called the ‘dark night of the soul’,” he says. “I guess in today’s parlance, it would be classified as some form of depression.

I’ve never fully emerged from it, but I’ve learned to tame it with faith, a rigorous drive to know, expanding my consciousness, and an indefatigably assuring voice within that whispers words I understand so well from Julian of Norwich, ‘All will be well. And all manner of things shall be well,’” Ntabeni explains. He also cites the writings of English Carmelite Sister Ruth Burrows as an influence in his spiritual life.

Writing came later in his life. “I regard myself as an avid reader — mostly of literature, history and philosophy. I became eager to share what I was learning with other people. I‘m also the first student of my own writing. But I’m also starting to believe that I may be a writer by vocation, because it is where my spirit rests,” he says.

Southern Cross columnist

In 2007, Ntabeni wrote a reader’s letter to The Southern Cross. Editor Günther Simmermacher recalls that time: “I spotted a good writer in that letter, so I googled Mphuthumi and found his blog. I liked his style and offered him a column.” That column would run for more than 12 years, and it touched on

Mphuthumi Ntabeni reads from his historical novel The Broken River Tent at the Cape Town launch in June 2018.

Photos: Günther Simmermacher, Kwela Books

diverse topics pertaining to faith, contemporary politics, Christian history and the Church in South Africa today.

Writing for The Southern Cross, Ntabeni says, was an opportunity to learn ways of applying his faith in daily life, for example by studying the Catholic Social Teachings, “which I believe is our faith’s greatest gifts to the world”.

“I discovered in my readings that most of what is best in the modern world’s organisation has its seeds in the canon of the Church’s Social Teachings, including the enlightenment away from invidious things like slavery. The Church structure also gave seed to constitutional democracy. Many of what passes as Western civilisation today would not have been possible without the Christian religious message. Most people don’t know these things. This is another aspect that drew me to the Catholic Church, when I read the history of the world. I was able to see that, with all its faults, the Church has also done greater good in the world.”

The novelist

Ntabeni has published two novels so far. His 2018 debut, The Broken River Tent (Blackbird Books) won the Best Debut Award at the University of Johannesburg Prizes for South African Writing in English in 2019. His second book, The Wanderer (Kwela), came out in 2020. Both have been well-received by the critics. As one of only a handful of historical-fiction novelists in South Africa, Ntabeni’s novels touch on contemporary issues in society from a historical perspective. He believes this is of paramount necessity in addressing some of the collective issues faced by South African society.

“I write to make history a little more palatable to those of us who are not formal historians. Many of us are very ignorant of our real history in this country because it was repressed or told from a point of prejudice by the colonial and apartheid masters. There’s a dire need to correct this if we’re going to be able to refute people who say things like ‘colonialism wasn’t that bad’ or claim that things were better under apartheid.”

The Broken River Tent touches on the land invasions by British colonialists in the Eastern Cape in the 1800s.

This, Ntabeni says, is a part of South African history which has been told from a one-sided perspective, and rarely from the Xhosa point of view.

“Besides the fact that it is the history of the region I come from, it is also hidden, suppressed or told from a position of prejudice against us amaXhosa in most official writings of the past, such as British government papers, the journals of their soldiers, and so on. I wanted for the story to be told, for once, from the Xhosa perspective.

What I understood — almost too late — is that God uses history to progressively proportion Revelation according to mankind’s ability to understand it.

The task of the Church is to watch over the march of truth in history,” he says.

Second novel

The Wanderers focuses on a daughter’s yearning and search for a long-lost father. It shines a light on black identity in contemporary South African society today, against the backdrop of the struggle against apartheid.

“The Wanderers is a study of rootlessness, of what it means to be homeless everywhere in the world,” the author says. The story draws on the story of Abraham — “that quintessential wanderer from Ur, and the father of rootless faith and a founder of Jewish identity” — and Homer’s odyssey, before it arrives “closer to my own identity of amaMfengu, the black blighted wanderers that arrived in the Eastern Cape from the banks of Thukela almost at the same time as British settlers in the 19th century”. It moves into modern times with a globe-

cal and philosophical insight,” Ntabeni says.

Communications crisis

Mphuthumi Ntabeni’s debut column in The Southern Cross of October 16, 2007.

The other columns that week were by Br Evans Chama and Michael Shackleton.

trotting Soviet-trained MK soldier and his daughter, whom he never met, going to look for him.

“I know it sounds complex,” Ntabeni laughs, “but I’ve been told that it’s an easy, straightforward read.” He notes that secular reviews have tended to stay away from the novel’s religious elements and language which “I used more to explicate things than to proselytise, although the book is subtly evangelical in its interrogation of the Christian promises for the after-all”.

He cites St Augustine’s style, purpose and writing as an influence. “I believe he was the first psychologist and historical novelist, in the strict sense of never deviating from historical facts, while infusing them with psychological insight and spiritual purpose. I love also St John Newman for depth of enquiry and humility in following truth wherever it leads, no matter how uncomfortable you may find the process to be. It is very important for me to think and write with a sense of histori-

The Southern African Church’s communication is a concern for the novelist. “Right now, the local Church is its own worst enemy because of poor communication strategies. It doesn’t tell at all its good stories, so the secular press reports only its bad side. The Anglican Church is far more astute with communication than us,” he says, noting that good attempts at communicating are undone when leadership changes.

Ntabeni believes that improvements ought to be made in telling the Catholic story to the broader society, from a historical perspective and about the Church’s great work today.

“Many of us don’t properly know the history of the Church in general.

My goal in writing, even as I prefer to use a secular language, is to expose, in a fair manner, the history, values and precepts of the Christian faith in a way that all people of goodwill would be able to relate to and make up their own minds about. I actually intuitively learnt that from reading the evangelists and the Church Fathers. Their language is fresh and honest as the morning dew to me.

I imagine how it would have felt to be Luke, an educated man of goodwill, hearing the news and the happenings around the person of Yehoshua before the mystical and theological lexicon took over. I find the Gospel of Luke so sublime; it is my favourite. I find it to be matter-of-fact sober and comprehensively historical,” Ntabeni says.

His advice to budding Catholic writers: “It helps to forge a good relationship with the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life who is always renewing the world. From that you may gain gifts of honesty, discernment, chastity, moderation, prophecy and so on. The Lord, the Giver of Life, will put you under her wing, and now and then take you to the mountain top to show you figments of the world to come, even if, like Moses, you might not reach it in your own body. But you can commit it to paper and make your offering, between life and death, to the next generation. And Read! Read! And then read some more.”

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FOCUS ON VOCATIONS

Is the religious life still relevant in 2021?

There is an association in South Africa that brings together the various congregations and orders: the Leadership Conference of Consecrated Life. We spoke with its president, Sr Nkhensani Shibambu CSA, about the LCCL’s purpose and work.

Q: In a few words, how would you define the consecrated life?

Sr Nkhensani: Consecrated life is used interchangeably with religious life.

Those who join this particular way of life respond to the baptismal call to follow Christ more closely by being set apart for purposes of sacred service.

Consecrated life is characterised by the public profession and living out of religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience within the Church, often in religious communities, and expressed through ministry.

to send labourers into his harvest (Matthew 9:37, Luke 10:12).

What challenges are religious congregations facing now?

One of the biggest challenges that religious congregations are facing is a decline in vocations leading to the decrease in members in many institutes.

Some congregations are faced with the possibility of dying out as a result of not getting new and younger members to join them while the majority of members are ageing. Others are faced with huge generational gaps between the new incoming members and the old ones.

is the purpose of the Leadership Conference of Consecrated Life (LCCL)? How does it support local congregations and orders?

The Leadership Conference of Consecrated Life is an association of elected leaders, men and women, of religious congregations or societies of apostolic life in Southern Africa. The purpose of the LCCL is to promote the welfare of institutes so as to foster their religious spirit and their apostolic work.

It is also there to promote the efficacy of each leader in their own institute by organising workshops and training for members, to empower them in different areas such as leadership, initial and ongoing formation, among others. The LCCL represents the member institutes before lawful authorities, both ecclesial and civil..

The LCCL also fosters collaboration among members.

In these changing times, is the consecrated life still relevant?

Consecrated life is still relevant in these changing times as now, more And what can be done? than ever, religious are called to give To renew religious life, we need a radprophetic witness by being the con- ical living of the Gospel message and science of society and of the Church to radiate the joy of the resurrection and the hope of eternal life by leading bringing life and hope to all.

Religious are to be witnesses of a a life of witnessing to the reality of different way of acting or living; they love. We need to be led by the Holy Do you work together with the bishare called to go against the tide of Spirit in our being and in our doing. ops of Southern Africa? prevalent cultures of our times, such To get an increase in religious voca- The LCCL collaborates with the as secularism and materialism, among tions, family life and the nuclear fam- Southern African Bishops’ Conference others. They are called to be visible ily also needs an overhaul.

(SACBC) in different areas concerning signs of the reign of God and be a Turning to the association you’re consecrated life and the Church. leaven in the world. Pope Francis says currently leading as president: What There is a Joint Witness meeting that that “religious should be men is attended by the SACBC’s and women able to wake up president, the two vice-presiSr Nkhensani Shibambu, a member of the Congrethe world”. dents, secretary-general and gation of Companions of St Angela and current associate secretary-general topresident of the Leadership Conference of ConseWhy do you think a modern gether with the LCCL’s presicrated Life SA, is seen here in Rome. young woman or man might dent, vice-president and Inset below: The LCCL SA logo enter the consecrated life? secretary-general. This hapThe world as we know it today pens twice a year. has a lot to offer to the modern And then there is the Nayoung man or woman: possitional Joint Witness meeting bilities for further studies, fiwhich takes place every three nancial security, career years and includes all the development and so on. Howbishops of the conference toever, these young men and gether with major superiors women are searching for purfrom within the conference. pose, meaning and belonging The meetings aim to foster which they cannot find in the better collaboration among all world but do find by respondthe partners within the coning to a call to religious life. ference.

The harvest is great but the The focus of the meetings labourers are few. We should is to discuss and share chalpray the master of the harvest

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lenges and achievements, identify innovative ways to be relevant as the Church today, and find ways to support each other in the different ministries and services to God’s people and the Catholic Church in Southern Africa.

How is the collaboration among the national conferences of congregations? Does the Vatican listen?

The LCCL is currently collaborating with five other conferences — Lesotho, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Namibia — for the establishment of a Southern African regional conference. Collaboration among other national conferences in Africa is also strengthened through sharing of resources and knowledge about religious life.

We receive support and encouragement from the nunciature in Pretoria and the Institute of Consecrated Life and Society of Apostolic Life in Rome. We also receive support from the International Union of Superiors General.

The purpose of the LCCL The Leadership Conference of Consecrated Life (LCCL) is an association of the elected leaders, men and women, of religious congregations or societies of apostolic life in Southern Africa. Recognised by the Holy See, it helps the leaders of religious institutes to speak with one voice and to promote programmes and raise awareness on issues affecting the lives of many people on national and international levels.

The LCCL lists as its purpose: • To promote the welfare of the congregations, societies and orders, and to foster their religious spirit and their apostolic work, while respecting the autonomy, nature and spirit of each; • To promote the efficacy of each leader in their own institutes; • To foster the spirit and apostolic work of the institutes, and to cooperate closely and cordially with the hierarchy, clergy and laity; • To represent the institutes before the lawful authorities, ecclesial and civil; • To maintain regular contact with the Holy See and its representative as well as the appropriate Roman curial congregations, and with the International Union of Superiors General.

To learn more about the work of the LCCL in Southern Africa, visit www.lcclsa.co.za, and or see LCCL on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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11

How to become a Catholic

Sister or Brother

God never ceases to call some of the faithful to a vocation to the consecrated life.

We asked Franciscan FATHER SIPHELELE GWANISHENI, who heads the Initial Formation Department of the Leadership Conference of Consecrated Life Southern Africa, to answer questions young people may have about that path.

What Whatis isthe the consecrated consecrated orreligious religious life? or life?

The consecrated/religious life is a unique way of living the Christian baptismal calling by dedicating one’s life totally to God. One becomes a member of a congregation or institute of consecrated life.

He or she offers his or her life to God, for the service of humanity and the whole creation. This is done by taking religious vows which are the characteristic feature of Jesus the chaste, obedient and poor one. These three vows — chastity, obedience and poverty — are generally lived in a community set-up. The professed members journey together and support each other in the service of the Lord, the Church and the whole cre-

ation. They also respond to a missionary vocation that calls them to leave their homes and at times countries (Genesis 12:1) to work in foreign countries where their congregation or institute serves.

WhatWhat is theis role of religious the role of religious or consecrated or consecrated peoplepeople in the in the Catholic Church?

Catholic Church?

Religious Sisters, Brothers and priests have rendered an outstanding service in the propagation of faith in the Church. Their immense service has been in the areas of education, health, rural development, social support, pastoral work (which is sometimes done under very difficult circumstances), and economic empowerment of the poor and marginalised.

Some dedicate their lives to praying for the needs of the Church and the world through their contemplative life.

The role of the religious is still critical across the globe as they are a significantly prophetic voice in the materialistic and individualistic world through bringing good news to the poor and restoring dignity to the dejected (Luke 4:18).

I think I’ve heard a call to the conI think I’ve heard a call to life.life.

How do do thesecrated consecrated How I know that I really do I know that really do have have vocation? aa vocation?

12

One sign of a religious vocation is the deep desire to leave everything behind, like the apostles, in order to serve God wholeheartedly (1 Corinthians 7:34), and the willingness to let oneself be The Southern Cross

supported by others while simultaneously supporting them.

There are many charisms, or ways of expressing this form of commitment to the Lord and his creation, and they are expressed through the promptings of the Holy Spirit in the different congregations and institutes.

How which Howdo do II choose choose which congregation tojoin? join? congregation to There are are so There so many! many!

It is good to explore as much as possible where the Lord is calling you and to study the different charisms of congregations in order to find the one that responds to your vocation and your gifts.

Congregations are always open to arranged visits to their communities in order to assist in this search.

Sister or nun: What is the difference?

The terms are often used interchangeably, but in general, nuns take solemn vows and live a life of prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent, while Sisters take simple vows and live an active vocation of prayer and charitable works in areas such as education and healthcare.

The religious life in three photos: (from left) Br Roberto (at centre) after he made his final vows in the congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in Durban in 2016. • Precious Blood Sisters Mary Angelique Shezi, Prudence Gabriela Moyo, Olive Nanu Sopea, Omega Mary Masawi, Andreas Maria Mncube, and Rita Nabatte after making their first profession in late 2019.

• Frs Grant Tungay and Ricardo da Silva are ordained by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg on July 31; both are members of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits. (Photos courtesy of Priests of the Sacred Heart, Sr Fadzai Chivige CPS & Ursula van Nierop)

oK, now I’m ready to join a conoK, now I’m ready to join gregation of myof choice.

What a congregation my choice.

What happens next? happens next?

The point of contact is always the person called the vocation’s animator or director. He or she journeys with the aspirants who seek to know more about the congregation.

One applies after some time of searching, and then it is to be seen whether the applicant meets the requirements of the congregation, which include educational qualification (matric pass), reasonably good health, and some knowledge of the Catholic faith.

Different congregations have different requirements for admission. For that reason, it is important to ask as many questions as possible, and also to be as honest as possible about one’s life story.

If IfI decide duringmy my I decideto to leave leave during novitiate, am I free to do so? novitiate, am free to do so?

Novitiate is a canonical or official stage in the process of joining the congregation, at the end of which the novice makes first vows.

Novices can still opt to leave the programme if they wish to. The period of novitiate marks the beginning of initial formation which takes not less than four years, depending on the congregation.

The vows are renewed on a regular basis, and each time requiring the express desire to continue.

The religious is allowed to ask to be released from their vows if he or she has already taken first vows. The stage of initial formation ends with final vows. At this stage a person becomes a full and a permanent member of the congregation. The congregation becomes his or her permanent home.

Can CanI Iswitch switch orders/ orders/ congregations later? congregations later?

In cases where people did not do a proper enquiry, they may find themselves in congregations with charisms that do not speak to them. This is possible in the early stages, although each congregation will have to decide whether they are taking a candidate or not.

After final vows it becomes more complicated to switch orders as this process involves some procedures with Rome.

Will allowme me Willmy mysuperior superior allow study or or have have aa totostudy professional career? career? professional Religious dedicate their lives to the service of God and the whole creation. This includes the use of their gifts and talents.

Religious undergo professional training towards different forms of service. It all depends on the charism of the congregation and the needs of the time and place.

Religious have plenty of time to equip themselves to be able to respond to the challenges of the society. They get qualifications and use those skills for the kingdom of God.

Who food, Whopays pays for for my my food, housing,health health and and so housing, soon? on?

A religious congregation or community is a family of believers who have a common vision and interest and they are all called by God. They share the resources they have and all that is given to them from charity and what they earn from their work.

A group of Sisters of Nazareth

once professed, onceI’m I’m fully fully professed, whathappens happens next? what next?

Fully professed in this case refers to the person who has taken final vows. All this period — of pre-novitiate and novitiate and post-novitiate until the perpetual vows — is a time of searching and praying for enlightenment.

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13

Novices speak:

THE SISTERS WE WANT TO BE The process of discerning the vocation to the religious life is long.

Four novices speak about their vocation journey, and what kind of Sisters they hope to become.

S

HE RAN A THRIVING BUSINESS when she heard God’s call to the vocation as an Assumption Sister. Against the wishes of her family, even her beloved grandfather, Judith Katukenu entered the religious life.

Now in her second year of novitiate, the 34-year-old from Kikwit in the Democratic Republic of Congo recalls: “My family didn’t want me to go to the convent. It upset their plans for me, and they were not happy about that. I had a successful shop at home which I looked after well, selling sweets, sugar and milk, as well as small things like glasses, earrings and even watches. I had two phones which people could use to make calls.

It was at that time a source of income for the family.”

Though she heard God’s call, it took Sr Judith a long time to discern her vocation. “I was very dependent on my beloved grandfather, and I hated to disappoint him. He had done everything for me. But I went to talk to our parish priest. He listened to me

Judith Katukenu: ‘I want to be obedient to God; to listen to others, and to be humble and loving .’

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and he was willing to speak to my family, especially to my grandfather.

But still, it was not easy for them.

Then I went to talk again to my spiritual mother, who is a religious Sister, so that she could also talk to them.”

For others, the call comes early and clearly. Sifundo Siphelele Mabaso, 22, a first-year novice with the Dominican Sisters of St Catherine of Siena in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, heard the call to her vocation as a teenager in KwaMakhutha, near Durban. “I felt God was calling me to religious life and that was where he wanted me to serve him.” It wasn’t easy to come to the point of “leaving home and most of the things I loved, because in religious life these attachments are not required. I had to choose detachment in most of my material possessions in order to follow Christ in religious life. With love and by listening to the voice of God deep within me, I was happy to do the will of God in my life. I have such great belief that in God I find such great happiness more than I would in any other way.”

Sr Sifundo cites the help and support of her parish priest at Our Lady of Sorrows church in KwaMakhutha and of her family in encouraging her “to follow what I felt and desired for my life”.

But she knows that the discernment process is still ongoing. “Yes, I have joined the religious life, but I still have a long way to discern whether or not God is calling me to this particular way of life. The discernment process is

not a one-night process; it can be lengthy, even with the ups and downs of life,” she says. Nonetheless, she adds, although she is still on her journey of discernment, “my desire is to love and serve God’s people as a Dominican Sister and together continue the mission of Christ that he started while he was on Earth”.

Time of uncertainty

For many novices, the discernment process is accompanied by uncertainties. Thi Thuy Ngan Nguyen, a 25-year-old from Lo Duc, Vietnam, says that this hasn’t been easy. “I started with uncertainty and doubt. I just wished that God would appear and tell me directly what he wanted of me. Of course, he didn’t. Nevertheless, in trying to discern God’s will for me, I have discovered a part of me that I did not know before, which, I believe, is what God has prepared for me according to his plan.”

The first-year novice with the Dominican Sisters of St Catherine of Siena had hoped that in the novitiate she might prove to herself “that I did

Sifundo Mabaso: ‘I had to choose detachment in my material possessions in order to follow Christ.’

Thi Thuy Ngan Nguyen: ‘I just wished that God would appear and tell me directly what he wanted of me.’ not belong to the life of sisterhood”.

The opposite happened. “I gradually realised that God could possibly be calling me to this way of life. In fact, I found myself feeling a closeness to God that I had not previously experienced. And the sweetness of this relationship with God made me want to immerse myself in the love of Jesus and commit my life to my beloved as a Dominican Sister.”

Mary Jael Wemesa, a 28-yearold second-year novice with the Missionary Sisters of the Assumption, put herself in God’s hands. “In the beginning, the discernment process was not easy. I was not sure whether my call to be a religious Sister was really from God. I was open to God and I surrendered all my fears and my doubts to him. I promised him that I would do whatever he asked of me: ‘Show me your will.’”

At the time, she was 23 and a primary school teacher in Uganda. “I reflected on the call of Abraham who had been told by God to leave his own country and go to a place that God would show him. I asked myself if I

was really willing to do God’s will, whatever he asked. I made a commitment and gave my whole life to live totally open to God’s guidance. I also reflected on Mary’s openness to God’s will when she was called to become the mother of Jesus. I was honest with myself and, conscious that I was in the presence of God, I prayed with humility to the Holy Spirit for guidance.”

The sacraments helped, Sr Mary Jael notes. “I tried to live a sacramental life by going frequently to the sacrament of penance, attending daily Holy Mass and receiving Holy Communion. I lived out my confirmation pledge of reading and praying with the Scriptures. I had quiet times each

‘My desire is to love and serve God’s people’ day and listened to my heart. I was able to go for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament as we have a perpetual adoration chapel in our parish. I sought advice from the spiritual director whom I trusted. In this way I gradually became confident that it was God who was speaking in my heart, and I followed him.”

Friend’s choice

But that decision didn’t come without conflict. While Sr Mary Jael was teaching, a friend offered to pay for her studies towards diploma and

Mary Jael Wemesa: ‘I was open to God and surrendered all my fears and my doubts to him.’ even degree level. “Quite suddenly, during this time of questioning, I felt a burning desire within my heart to dedicate my life wholly to the service of God’s people as a religious Sister. I prayed over this, and I shared my desire with the friend who had offered to pay for my studies. She was very disappointed with me and told me that I would have to choose between her offer to pay for my studies and the call I felt to religious life. I told her that I had already made up my mind to seriously consider the call I felt to religious life.

I knew that I needed to listen to God’s call and not be distracted by going on to do further studies.”

The Gospel of Matthew helped her at the time. In it, Jesus says to the rich young man: “If you really wish to be perfect...come and follow me!” (cf Mt 19:16–30). “These words really made me long to be among those who would leave everything and follow Jesus in a religious life. As a religious, I would have greater focus on prayer and would love him with an undivided heart.”

Continued on page 16

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‘Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.’

– St Catherine of Siena (1347-80)

At the time, the enthusiastic reader sought out books on the lives of saints who had been religious Sisters, such as Ss Paula, Teresa of Avila, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Angela Merici. “I was struck by St Paula’s letter to her father, who was very keen that his beautiful daughter would find a worthy husband. Paula was becoming a religious Sister and so wrote back to her father that she had indeed found a very worthy and rich husband who would now become her father’s son-in law: Jesus of Nazareth!”

Good influences

All novices interviewed recall rolemodels who influenced them. Two cite family members. “My late grandfather was a wise and very prayerful man who helped many widows and poor people at church. Everybody loved him. He was a man who was close to God and he loved me a lot,” says Sr Judith. And Sr Mary Jael credits her aunt Alice for being a role model. “She is a God-fearing person, and a wise and motherly woman whose way of life drew me nearer to Christ. She would never make my decisions or my choices for me, but she would always advise me to pray to God to guide my desires.”

Those already in religious life also serve as role models. Sr Mary Jael recalls “a very old Sister” in her home parish of St Teresa of Avila in Mbale, Uganda. “She loved the young people, and liked them to just call her ‘Granny’.”

Sr Sifundo was inspired by the Dominican Sisters she would encounter especially during her initial visits to the convent at “Come-and-See” workshops. “The way I saw the Sisters, with all they were doing — even their teaching with care and compassion — made me feel welcome and be part of their way of life. I felt such passion in my heart to be part of the congregation that I said to myself deeply: ‘This is the way God wants me to serve him.’ I felt God’s presence was at work to burn within my heart in realising to a point, that I belong in the convent.”

Sr Ngan feels fortunate, because it was not only one person “but many Dominican friars and Sisters who influenced my vocation. They came along during my earliest stages in discernment of my vocation and each one of them showed me different aspects of a true Dominican whom I want to become.”

All four were involved in their parishes as children and young adults, taking on various roles. The three who had professional careers believe their experience helps them today. Working as a primary schoolteacher “influenced my life in seeing Christ in the little ones, and in all the people I meet, thus sharing in the redemptive mission of Christ, the Great Teacher and Healer”, says Sr Mary Jael. Sr Ngan worked in a laboratory. “The whole process of studying and working shaped a part of the person I am now. I am grateful for that.”

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Hopes for the future

Sr Ngan hopes to live up to the ideal of “a true Dominican Sister… who speaks the Truth and lives life to its fullness, one who is humble and fervent in preaching the Gospel by words and actions, who is close to God and approachable to people”.

Sr Mary Jael hopes to be “a Sister who will live what she professes: to love God with a generous heart in the congregation in which God has called me to serve him; one who observes the vows according to the rule and constitutions of the Missionary Sisters of the Assumption”. Her fellow Assumption Sisters’ novice Sr Judith wants to be “a kind person, especially to the old people and the sick, as well as to children and the poor. I want to be obedient to God; to listen to others and be humble and loving.”

Sr Sifundo hopes to be “a good, faithful and active Sister who will be ready for any mission God asks of me.

I want to be myself and be allowed to be an instrument of God in preaching, like St Dominic, in the footsteps of Christ, and reaching out to the poor and needy as did St Catherine of Siena,” who was also a Dominican.

Sr Sifundo quotes St Catherine, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” The novice adds: “With my faith, I want to make this world on fire with a zeal for spreading Christianity.”

With thanks to Sr Thao Phi FMM for facilitating this focus on religious life.

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Saint of the Month: Pope St John XXIII

The Peasant Pope

M

OST SAINTS’ FEAST DAYS correspond with the date of their death, give or take a day. The feasts of popes, however, usually falls on the date their pontificate began. But when Pope John XXIII was beatified in 2000, his feast was set on October 11, the day on which he convened the first session of the Second Vatican Council in 1962 — almost four years after he was elected pope to succeed Pope Pius XII. When he was born as Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli in the northern Italian village of Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo, on November 25, 1881, nobody would have thought that the fourth of 13 children in a family of sharecroppers would one day become an archbishop, a cardinal and eventually the most influential pope of the 20th century.

While the Roncallis had roots in nobility, their branch of the family had been impoverished for generations. Still, the family had a small vineyard and cornfields, and kept cattle.

Angelo’s intellect and piety stood out at an early age, so when he was 11, a priest enrolled him in a seminary in Bergamo. At 15, the boy joined the Secular Franciscan Order. In 1904, still 22, he earned his doctorate in canon law in Rome, and on August 10 that year, Roncalli was ordained to the priesthood in Rome’s church of Santa Maria in Montesanto in Piazza del Popolo. The bishop of Bergamo recognised the young priest’s talent and from 1905-14 Roncalli served as the bishop’s private secretary.

Name at birth: Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli Born: November 25, 1881, in Sotto il Monte, northern Italy Died: June 3, 1963, aged 81, in the Vatican elected pope: October 28, 1958 Beatified: 2000 Canonised: 2014 Feast: October 11 Patronages: Papal delegates, Second Vatican Council, Christian unity

The bishop died just a couple of weeks after World War I broke out. When Italy joined the conflict in 1915, Fr Roncalli was drafted to serve in the medical corps as a stretcher-bearer and chaplain, with the rank of sergeant. In late 1921, Pope Benedict XV named him president of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in Italy.

Less than three years later, Roncalli was appointed apostolic visitator (or nuncio) to Bulgaria, with the title of archbishop. He served there for the next nine years until his appointment as nuncio to Turkey and Greece in 1934.

Saving Jews from Nazis

Based in Istanbul, the avuncular Roncalli was popular and widely known as “The Turcophile Pope”. But once World War II began to rage in 1939, Roncalli became deeply involved in rescuing Jews from the Holocaust — in Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia. He did so by using his influence of intervention, which even reached into some concentration camps, and his bureaucratic powers, by producing documents of passage that could save lives.

Thousands of Jews were rescued through his intervention.

In December 1944, Roncalli was appointed nuncio to France, holding that prestigious position at a difficult time when the country was dealing with wartime collaborators with the occupying Nazis, which included clergy and bishops.

From left: The Roncallis’ home in Sotto il Monte where the future Pope John XXIII was born in 1881 • Angelo Roncalli as a seminarian in 1901 and as archbishop • The Southern Cross issue in 1958 introducing the newly-elected Pope John XXIII • The pope in the Vatican Gardens.

St John XXIII at a glance

After eight years in France, Roncalli was named patriarch (or archbishop) of Venice, taking that office in February 1953. At the same time, he was named a cardinal. But his time as patriarch of Venice was cut short by the death of Pope Pius XII on October 9, 1958.

A couple of weeks after the pontiff’s death, Cardinal Roncalli left Venice to help elect a new pope. His name had been mentioned as a papabile — one who is “popeable” — but there was another man whom many saw as the perfect successor to Pius: Archbishop Giovanni Montini of Milan. The problem was that the 61-year-old wasn’t yet a cardinal — and convention (though not canon law) demands that a new pope should already have the red hat.

So the electors had a decision to make: Cardinal Giuseppe Siri of Genoa, the young conservative, or the more liberal Giacomo Lercaro of Bologna, or maybe Roncalli as an elderly compromise candidate to hold the place for Montini?

After the fourth ballot of voting, Siri and Lercaro were out of contention, and it was clear that the conclave wanted a “caretaker pope”. On October 28 at 16:30 they had elected him: 76-year-old

The Southern Cross

17

’

and your dreams. ink not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential.

Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.

not your ‘fearsConsult but your hopes

Pope St John XXIII

The

S outhern Cross

1881

A Timeline of St John XXIII

Born on November 25 as Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, the fourth in a family of 13 children, to Giovanni Battista and Marianna Giulia Roncalli, a family of sharecroppers in Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo in northern Italy.

1892

Enters the seminary at Bergamo.

1901

Furthers his studies in Rome.

Takes a year off for military service.

1904

Ordained a priest on August 10.

Then serves as secretary to the bishop of Bergamo and teaches at the diocesan seminary.

1915-18

Serves as medic and chaplain during World War I

1921

Appointed head of the Italian national office of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

1925

1953

Named patriarch of Venice and made a cardinal.

1958

Elected on October 28 and takes the name John XXIII. At the age of 76, he is the oldest pope to be elected in more than 200 years.

1959

Announces his intention to call a Church Council (now known as the Second Vatican Council) on January 25 at Rome’s basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls.

1961

Issues his Mater et magistra (“Mother and Teacher”) encyclical on social issues and justice.

Creates the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity to lead the Church into a new era of ecumenical relations.

1962

Diagnosed with stomach cancer in September.

Opens the first session of the Second Vatican Council on October 11.

Named archbishop and appointed 1963 apostolic visitator to Bulgaria, workReleases his second social encycliing closely with Eastern Catholics. cal, Pacem in terris (“Peace on Earth”), teaching that true peace 1935 must be built on the pillars of truth, Transfers to Istanbul, where he justice, love and freedom. serves as apostolic delegate to Dies on June 3 of stomach cancer.

Turkey and Greece, improving relations with the Orthodox and Muslims.

1929-44

During World War II, helps many Jews to escape Nazi persecution.

1944

Appointed nuncio to France.

The tomb of St John XXIII in the chapel of St Jerome in St Peter’s basilica.

The tomb contains the pope’s remains within a wax effigy of him in papal vestments.

Photo: Günther Simmermacher

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The Southern Cross

2000

Beatified by Pope John Paul II alongside Pope Pius IX.

2014

Canonised by Pope Francis alongside Pope John Paul II.

Angelo Roncalli, who took the name John XXIII. That caused some confusion because there had already been an anti-pope John XXIII (see our October 2020 issue). Dressed in his new papal vestments, the newly-elected Pope John looked at himself in the mirror and said: “This man will be a disaster on TV!” At 76, he was the oldest pope to be elected in more than 200 years, and John was expected to keep the seat warm for his successor, who, as it would turn out to be, was Montini, elected in 1963 as Pope Paul VI.

Not a seatwarmer pope

But John was no seatwarmer. In his fiveyear papacy, he changed the Church. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the elderly pope surprised the world in 1959 when he announced his intention to call a council to help the Church deal with a rapidly changing world, and to “open the Church’s windows to the world”.

The Second Vatican Council opened on October 11, 1962 — hence St John XXIII’s feast day — and closed in 1965, after his death. Archbishop Montini, the man who as Pope Paul VI would guide the council to its completion, was as surprised as the rest of the world by the announcement of the council in 1959. “This holy old boy doesn’t realise what a hornet’s nest he’s stirring up,” the future pope remarked.

With his humility, gentleness and courage, Pope John reached out to the marginalised and the world. He was the first pope in nearly a century to make pastoral visits to Rome’s parishes. He visited the ill in hospitals, the youth in reform schools, and — a sensation at the time — the incarcerated in prison.

Pope John’s good humour was underpinned by a keen intellect. In less than five years of his papacy, he wrote eight encyclicals, including two that are considered landmark documents: Mater et magistra (1961), on Christianity and social progress, and Pacem in terris (1963), on the need for global peace and justice.

By the time the Second Vatican Council opened, Pope John knew that he wouldn’t see its completion. On September 23, 1962, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. The illness was kept secret, and even through it the pope barely slowed down. At 19:49 on June 3, 1963, Pope John XXIII died at the age of 81, just as a Mass for him finished in St Peter’s Square below his bedroom window.

John XXIII was beatified alongside Pope Pius IX in 2000, and canonised alongside Pope John Paul II on April 27, 2014, witnessed by a group of Southern Cross pilgrims.

Next month: St Catherine Labouré

Sr Sola Schaumann’s long missionary life ended in August. Here we look at

The 101-year life of the ‘Magogo of Nkandla’

A

FTER OCTOBER, THE MONTH of missions, the Church marks the feast of All Saints and All Souls. It is a good time to honour the many missionaries who left their homes to serve God and his people in far-off lands — such as South Africa.

One such missionary was Sr Sola Schaumann, a German-born Franciscan Nardini Sister of the Holy Family, who died at the age of 101 at Nkandla Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal on August 9 this year. Just a couple of weeks earlier, another great German missionary, Bishop Hubert Bucher, died at 90 (read his obituary at scross.co.za/2021/07/obitbishop-bucher/).

Two weeks before her death, Sr Sola had participated joyfully in her convent community’s celebration of the 200th birthday of Bl Paul Joseph Nardini, the founder of her congregation.

For the past 66 years, as a dedicated religious Sister and passionate missionary in Zululand, Sr Sola had lived out Fr Nardini’s words: “God is with us. Let us also be there for him with a generous heart and ready for sacrifices.”

Sr Sola was born as Katharina on January 16, 1920, at Altmühlmünster, Bavaria (not far from Bishop Bucher’s home city of Regensburg). She was the eldest of two brothers and seven sisters.

Her youngest sibling, Sr Michaelis, followed Sr Sola not only into the convent as a Nardini Sister, but in 1966 also to Nkandla as a missionary.

After completing her schooling, Katharina started working on a farm in order to support her parents. She went on to attend a domestic science training course. With her newly-obtained qualification she found a permanent job as a cook in a hotel. But at that time, World War II had started. At Christmas 1944, Katharina was called up for army duty with an aircraft unit in northern Germany. Amid her traumatic war experi-

Sr Sola Schaumann (front centre) with her family before leaving Germany in 1955. The future Sr Michaelis is at far right. The parents were sad that day, knowing they’d not see their daughter again.

ences, she promised Our Lady that she would pray the rosary every day for half a year in seeking her intercession for a safe return home. After the war, Katharina became a domestic worker in a dairy and attended Mass daily.

She would later say that praying the rosary and attending Mass gradually led her to religious life. She entered the Mallersdorfer congregation, as the Nardinis are known in Germany, in 1947, and started her novitiate on April 8, 1948, receiving the religious name Sola. On May 8, 1951, she professed her first vows, which made her a jubilarian of 70 years’ profession this year. Sr Sola deepened her commitment to serving humanity by training as a professional nurse, working at Fürstenzell Hospital from 1950-54. She made her perpetual vows on September 30, 1954.

Coming to South Africa

By that time Bishop Aurelian Bilgeri OSB of Eshowe had requested Nardini Sisters from the motherhouse in Mallersdorf to serve in his diocese. Sr Sola was an enthusiastic volunteer. So on January 2, 1955, she and three other pioneering Sisters left Germany to establish a foundation in Zululand.

On arrival in South Africa, Sr Sola learnt that she would have to redo her nursing qualifications to serve here. She

Sr Sola Schaumann (right) receives an award from Nkandla mayor Thamsanqa Ntuli in January 2020. With them is Sr Sola’s younger sister, Sr Michaelis.

did so with the Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing at Nongoma, and then enrolled for the midwifery course under Sr Reinolda May OSB, the visionary of Ngome whose cause for beatification has been opened.

In 1958 Sr Sola took over health services at Nkandla Hospital from the Benedictine Sisters. Until 1977 she would give her all for her patients as a nurse, midwife, nurse manager and even ambulance driver in Nkandla.

Sr Sola introduced the mobile health clinic system to bring primary healthcare services closer to families affected by rural isolation and poverty.

She also identified satellite clinic sites for Nkandla Hospital which are operational to this day.

She also saw the need for a more holistic approach to family needs, and in 1976 she established the Sizanani Centre as an adult education facility to address malnutrition and poverty, and to promote healthcare and self-upliftment. Sr Sola was passionate about sharing empowering skills with women to help them overcome adversity. Her projects in traditional craft work continue to serve as a source of income for families facing economic hardship.

Sr Sola received great awards for her life’s work, such as the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon, Germany’s highest civil award, in 2010; the papal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Medal, the highest papal honour for laity and religious, in 2017; and the Mayoral Excellence Award from Nkandla municipality in 2020.

Her fellow Nardini Sisters will remember Sr Sola as an exemplary religious Sister. She will also be remembered for her deep sense of community life, her loyalty to prayer, her witty sense of humour, and her self-sacrificing love for “the neighbour”. She will live in the hearts of the Nkandla community as their treasured Magogo.

The Southern Cross

21

The first editor of This month 101 years ago, The Southern Cross published its first issue.

SANDREN NAIDOO looks at the life of the founding editor, Fr James Kelly. the stem of the shamrock, was a small room adjoining the church.

In 1922, Fr Kelly — who was not an architect and had no formal qualifications in the building trade — built the 9m-high Irish Tower, often also called the Kelly Tower, on Lansdowne Road in Philippi. The structure, inspired by Ireland’s traditional round towers, was a Cape Flats landmark for more than 50 years, until its demolition in 1978.

W

HEN HE PARTED WAYS with the Catholic newspaper he had led in launching less than a year earlier, he asked that in future his name not be associated with The Southern Cross. Still, a century later the same publication, now a monthly magazine, remembers Fr James Kelly, as its founding editor and as a true Irish missionary.

James Kelly was born in November 1858 in Waterford, Ireland. His brother Thomas Kelly would also become a priest and eventually the archbishop of Kingston in Canada. Their sister became a nun, and as Mother Veronica the superior of the convent of the Sisters of Charity in Tramore.

After his ordination to he priesthood, Fr Kelly’s first and only posting was to South Africa. He began his ministry in 1884 as assistant priest of St Mary’s cathedral parish in Cape Town.

Over close to 50 years, he would evangelise across the colour-line in the Cape Peninsula.

In December 1886, Fr Kelly was appointed parish priest of St Michael’s church in Rondebosch, where he served until 1922. The priest’s generosity and self-sacrifice on behalf of the poor was legendary. It is believed that Fr Kelly never turned a hungry person away, even if he would have to go without his own dinner.

During the last 13 years of his time at St Michael’s he showed a zeal for spreading Catholicism across the statemandated division by colour. He devoted many Sunday afternoons to entertaining children: white children on one Sunday and coloured the next.

Fr Kelly was certainly not a collaborator in racial segregation, but like many of his contemporaries, he did not openly challenge the regime on its race relations. This is an interesting phenomenon, for the Irish in South Africa

First editor

Fr James Kelly in around 1910

occasionally assimilated into black culture. The Irish also seemed to find it “easier” than many other Englishspeaking whites to merge with Afrikaner culture. When Fr Kelly moved on from his Rondebosch posting, he

Fr Kelly was neither an architect, nor was he a journalist. But he was a pioneer in establishing a national Catholic weekly for South Africa, which he named The Southern Cross.

Catholic journalism in the Cape colony had a history going back to 1851, when the Eastern Cape’s Bishop Aidan Devereux, an Irishman from Wexford, founded The Cape Colonist.

That publication folded in 1859, but Devereux’s successor, Bishop James Ricard, subsequently launched the South African Catholic Magazine, which remained in circulation for another 30 years. Among its editors was Mgr Frederick Kolbe, the great theologian who would also become a fixture in The Southern Cross.

The idea for a national Catholic weekly was proposed in 1919, with Fr Kelly and Durban’s Fr Leo Sormany OMI teaming up to persuade the bishops of the venture. The bishops welcomed the idea and set up the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Company, which was to produce the weekly selfsufficiently and without subsidies.

Initially it was proposed that a layman should be the editor, but Bishop Hugh MacSherry of Port Elizabeth feared that a lay editor might undermine priests and bishops on political grounds. Hence, it was decided that the editor should be a priest who

Fr Kelly asked for an assistant... and got a desk

22

The Southern Cross

found his true vocation on the Cape Flats, serving the black and coloured communities there. While in Rondebosch, Fr Kelly had already adopted the predominately coloured suburb of West London (now Athlone) as an outstation and supplied Mass there.

Builder of churches

Later he built a church, chapel and school for the coloured community in Jacobsdahl, a church in Philippi, and the still-existing Holy Trinity church in Matroosfontein. Recalling his Irish roots, Fr Kelly built Holy Trinity church in the shape of a shamrock, and the presbytery, forming

The Southern Cross would assume responsibility for the newspaper with the cooperation of trained journalists.

Fr Kelly was appointed editor of The Southern Cross, a title he “borrowed” from a defunct Anglican publication from 1892. The priest encouraged Catholics to purchase the newspaper by claiming that “South African Protestants will respect you South African Catholics all the more for being proud of your faith and showing your pride in it”. The first edition of the newspaper went into circulation on October 16, 1920, and sold about 3 500 copies. It featured a photo of Pope Benedict XV and a papal message on the cover page.

For the first few months, the newspaper’s offices were at St Michael’s in Rondebosch before The Southern Cross moved into central Cape Town.

Although circulation was increasing, the newspaper was making a financial loss. Lacking the managerial experience of running a newspaper company, the board of directors had miscalculated the day-to-day expenses of administering a weekly publication.

Due to his heavy pastoral workload, Fr

The Irish round tower built

by Fr Kelly on the Cape Flats in a photo from around 1950 by Capuchin Father Jarlath Gough.

Kelly requested that a permanent secretary be appointed. The board did not fully accede to his request. Instead, it authorised the installation of a telephone and bought a desk. This did not appease Fr Kelly and probably contributed further to unpleasant working conditions for the staff of the newspaper. Subsequently, work-related tensions between Fr Kelly and his assistant editor, AD Donovan, surfaced.

Getting dismissed

Matters came to head when a letter from Mr Donovan stated his dissatisfaction at employment by The Southern Cross, “under the existing conditions”.

J Devitt, the chair of the board, agreed that the editorial arrangements were unsatisfactory, and noted that the newspaper was receiving bad publicity.

The board then dismissed Fr Kelly but retained the services of Mr Donovan. Fr Kelly was offered the position of comanager of The Southern Cross, but he declined. He edited the newspaper until September 24, 1921, after which Fr John Colgan took over. In his first editorial, Fr Colgan paid tribute to Fr Kelly (see page 5).

But the founding editor didn’t go without with a fight. At the end of 1921, he wrote to the board requesting his name not be associated with the newspaper in future. With the exit of Fr Kelly, the management of the newspaper progressed by leaps and bounds.

In the early 1930s, while parish priest at Matroosfontein, Fr Kelly’s health deteriorated. On April 28, 1933, he suffered cardiac arrest and died at

The first issue of The Southern Cross, dated October 16, 1920, and edited by Fr Kelly.

the age of 74. He was buried at the Maitland cemetery.

Fr Kelly never returned to Ireland but kept fond memories of his motherland by building monuments, especially the Irish Tower. When asked which stood first in his affections, Ireland or South Africa, he would answer: “Why, Ireland, to be sure — but Africa stands behind her!”

Dr Sandren Naidoo is a historian, archivist, genealogist and school inspector, and the author of the forthcoming book, The Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement.

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The Southern Cross

23

LOCAL ELECTIONS

Vote like cunning serpents As South Africans prepare to vote in the upcoming local elections, MIKE POTHIER writes that the Church provides us with guiding principles.

C

AN THERE BE SAID TO BE A specifically “Catholic” or “Christian” way of voting? Arguably not, but I think there are certain values and principles that should be at the front of our minds, as people of faith, when we make our way to the voting stations.

Firstly, we should definitely go and vote in the local elections (at the time of writing it was unclear whether these will be held in October or in February)! This may sound obvious, but there are signs that more and more South Africans are becoming disillusioned with formal politics. Perhaps this is to be expected, given the dire performance of so many of our political leaders in recent times, but we must remind ourselves that not voting will do nothing to stop the rot — it will simply leave the bad politicians in place and deprive the good ones of the chance to do a better job.

At the heart of this is the idea of Christian hope, the certainty that God is at work in the world, and that God wants our cooperation in that work.

Grubby as it sometimes is, politics is one of the spheres in which God works — and if we give up on it by not voting, not taking an interest in the political direction of our country, we will only frustrate God’s work.

Do not vote like sheep

Linked to this is my second point: when we go out to work with God in the wolf-filled world of politics, we need to be “as cunning as serpents”, as Jesus puts it (Matthew 10:16). In other words, let’s not be gullible or naïve. Rather, let’s evaluate very carefully the track records and the promises of the various individuals and parties on offer.

One of the reasons why we have ended up in our present political situation, with the huge damage done by incompetence, corruption, state capture, and all the rest, is that too many voters have taken politicians at their word. We have been like sheep; we need to learn to be more like snakes — alert, alive to the dangers and threats that lurk in the political jungle, and willing to use our vote as a weapon to defend ourselves and our communities from those who only want to exploit us.

24

The Southern Cross

Vote for common good

This brings me to my third point: To vote as a Christian is to vote not selfishly but with the interests of the broader community in mind. When we vote we should be seeking the common good. This is one of the key principles of Catholic Social Teaching. As Pope John XXIII put it in his 1963 encyclical letter Pacem in terris, “the whole reason for the existence of civil authorities is the realisation of the common good”.

When we vote, then, we should choose people who will use the authority we give them to truly serve our communities, and reject those who have shown that they are interested only in their own advancement.

Focusing on community and the common good should also remind us that these are local government elections.

We are constantly bombarded by national political issues, and our political system is very much party-dominated, but we should nevertheless focus our thoughts on local questions and on the performance of our local representatives — councillors and mayors.

What is the overall state of my city, township, suburb, rural district?

What do the roads look like, is the refuse cleared every week, is the water supply reliable? Do our councillors spend more time squabbling with each other and contesting for positions than they do

on fixing the things that go wrong from time to time? Does the mayor drive around in a convoy of expensive cars, insulated from reality?

our opportunity

Every opportunity to vote is an opportunity to participate in the way our community is run. That participation is an important exercise of our Godgiven human dignity; it means that we are not just sitting back letting things be done for us and to us, letting decisions be made without our input.

This moment in our country’s history — when only 27 out of 257 municipalities manage to achieve a clean audit, and when local government’s routine failure to deliver even the most basic services has such a devastating effect especially on the poorer members of our communities — is surely an appropriate time for us to rekindle our sense of Christian hope for the future, and Christian responsibility for the common good.

Let us do so by voting to get rid of the bad and to give the good a chance.

Mike Pothier is the programme manager of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison office.

Imelda Diouf on Family

The domestic role in education working day still garners only a measly R150 per day. This amount is even less for rural domestic workers. To compare: a medium cappuccino at your favourite coffee outlet costs R28,00!

Yet, domestic workers, factory workers and farm labourers are still the foundation on which an educated nation is built. Surely we can do better than this, South Africa!

Photo: Alice Morrison/CC4.0

S

OME PEOPLE FEATURE IN OUR lives for no reason other than that we hear their names being uttered many times. One such name is Maggie Oewies. It was fixed in my mind from childhood days: a large lady with a large voice who agitated for the rights of domestic workers. I knew this even before I could verbalise my own rights. Having grown up in humble circumstances, Maggie developed a vision of humanity beyond the daisies of her Namaqualand home.

Generations of South African professionals have been raised by domestic worker-mothers who lived under harsh conditions of poverty and the oppressive laws of apartheid. These workers were often separated from their children because of their work in the suburbs and urban areas. Live-in maids rarely saw their own children, who were cared for by aunties and gogos.

Those peri-urban domestic workers, who came from the outskirts of cities to their places of employ, often started their journeys long before sunrise and returned home after sunset.

It is on the backs of these domestic workers and factory workers and farm workers that many of the current generation of educated elites have risen though the ranks of government and the business sector. Repeatedly one reads of the sacrifices of the women who kept their children at school despite the odds.

Families — often matriarchal, single-parent households — have invested so much more than rands and cents in school education. Indeed, they have invested love, time, support and encouragement; unwittingly teaching diligence, perseverance and determination for a better life.

The family becomes the first educators of children. Educative wealth or educative poverty is not dependent on school buildings, teachers and governing bodies.

With families as the first educators, the beliefs that accompany the child into adulthood are laid down in the early years. The next generation is formed through the bonds of family and community relations. Together with other women from churches, stokvels and neighbourhood communities, norms and values are inculcated

Vulnerable families

Domestic workers play an important role in early education

— willingness to strive for an improved standard of living, willingness to see the humanity of all South Africans, irrespective of status or birth.

Those are invaluable lessons that have

The next generation is formed through the bonds of family and community relations been taught by the hundreds of thousands of domestic workers.

But what has changed for domestic workers? Some things don’t seem to change. As of March 2021, the minimum wage in South Africa is R21,69 for each working hour. For domestic workers, however, under the National Minimum Wage Act the minimum wage is R19,09 per hour. An eight-hour

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The Family International Monitor in a 2020 Report on Family and Relational Poverty states: “Family and school fragility entails an impoverishment of the overall educational apparatus of society, especially in its relational component.” While school systems themselves might be weak and dysfunctional, the first element of vulnerability is the family itself.

Within a family structure, the “possibility of intergenerational relations, which are naturally oriented towards the educative, value-related, cultural and relational dimension”, supports informal learning and capability.

Generations of domestic workers, despite dire personal circumstances, have lifted their children out of poverty not only because they sent their children to school, but also because their homes became value-driven zones of learning for the future.

Maggie Oewies was a fighter and activist till her death at 80 years. She tried hard to pass on the baton of rights. Have we picked up the baton?

Or is South Africa still building a future on the sweat and labour of poorly paid domestic workers?

Imelda Diouf is the director of the Centre for Family Studies. This is the third in a series of four articles on family and relational poverty.

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The Southern Cross

25

How do we learn to be

CATHOLIC? How well are Catholics of today evangelised? Have they been formed to grow in the faith? FR RALPH DE HAHN reflects on these questions.

I

F THERE WAS A SURVEY OF CATHOLICS, I HAVE NO doubt that we would find that most Catholics have little knowledge of the Bible and the practice of the Catholic faith. Only a handful of Catholics are able to accurately defend Catholic teachings and practice — and some of those who do try often impair their efforts by their overenthusiasm, claiming the Church teaches things it actually doesn’t. Among those who fill our pews on Sundays, we’ll find many who still live in the mental stage of learning the “Penny Catechism”, having made little spiritual progress since.

Catholics proudly display photographs of that glorious First Communion and, of course, that grand confirmation diploma, which for so many young people signifies a “Goodbye to classes” and, at last, total freedom. But we need to stop fooling ourselves that all is well in the Church. It isn’t! Our people are not being evangelised. We happily grow and mature in every other sphere of human living — but not spiritually.

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LEADERS IN N FUTURE FOCUSED EDUCATION

We are seemingly stagnant, living in the past, happy to cherish our childlike dreams. And if our idea of God is still the same as that of our childhood days, then we are in a sorry state of spiritual immaturity. We have so much to unlearn, and a lot to refresh and update.

Of course, good teachers have produced good fruit and we do find them in the present Church. Good teachers, catechists and preachers have enriched the Church by being true evangelists, by simply proclaiming the Gospel, beginning with what is known — the God-man Jesus.

Many parents today — still harbouring the teaching of the past — are no longer in the Church. In others, the sweet and mild Jesus still lives on, and they dutifully take their children to Sunday Mass as it is still an “obligation” — but often with no mention of worship or thanksgiving. And the young have their smartphones — every human person is a number. With all the great technology at hand, what need do they think they have of God? Do parents and preachers inform the “educated” of the source of all these gifts?

All this is affecting our catechesis and evangelisation immensely, but, sadly, we are still hanging on to our childlike concepts. For example, how many faithful believers advance to an adult method of praying, so simple, so spontaneous. If they do pray, many Catholics recall their prayers of old, taught decades ago in Sunday school. If adults find prayer boring and difficult to fit into their busy hours, one may wonder about their understanding of prayer and praying.

Our Lord warned us that new wine must be poured into fresh skins (Luke 5:37). The means for formation do exist. Our parishes have prayer groups, but how many Catholics take part? We have the Catholic media, but what is the Church — all of us! — doing to promote reading The Southern Cross or tuning into Radio Veritas or buying books about the faith in Catholic bookshops and repositories?

A Catholic education begins in the home. The home is meant to be the nest where the growing child is educated. But how many Catholic parents prepare their young adults as they develop sexually in such a marvellous way designed by God himself? How do they instruct them about one of God’s greatest and most beautiful gifts? Do our young and those preparing for marriage have an accurate understanding of love, loving or just “falling in love”? The failure of so many marriages, even among Catholics, is a terrible reflection on our catechesis and lack of evangelisation.

Our teachings on heaven, hell, purgatory, divine grace and the vital role of the Blessed Virgin Mary need to be emphasised in the formation of Catholics. The concepts of the Church as the Family of God and his Mystical Body, and the infinite mercy of our God, must be part of a new wave of evangelisation. The love of Christ must be made real in our Church.

Millions of good people can’t find Jesus alive in the Catholic Church, so they search for him elsewhere or, worse, give up looking for him altogether. And who can blame them?

Fr Ralph de Hahn is a priest of the archdiocese of Cape Town.

Nthabiseng Maphisa: Millennial Catholic

This is the Body of Christ

B

ESIDE THE THRONE OF GOD sits Christ the King, Our Lord, Saviour and Redeemer. In praise of his name the hosts of angels sing in heaven. With him is Mother Mary. Along the knitted bond between mother and son flow the murmurs of her heart. Nestled in the Sacred Heart of Jesus are the joyful memories and the enduring contemplations of the Blessed Mother. In that embrace, I dare say, we all long to be in our desire that our fragile humanity be touched by the body of Christ.

That we may enter this embrace was made possible through the faith of the humble Virgin Mary. Somewhere in the quietness of her day she heard the call of an angel. Through his voice, heaven proclaimed the coming of Our Lord. Oh, what gentle obedience, and, oh, what humble submission gave rise to our redemption! “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour!” In the shadow of the Holy Spirit was the Word of God made flesh that we may behold the body of Christ.

The infant Jesus grew up in the home of Joseph. The most chaste spouse of Our Lady carried the infant Jesus in his arms, toiled for food that the child may eat and be nourished, and protected him from the bloodlust of King Herod. As Joseph laboured over timber and nails, the Christ-child observed his earthly father and was thus prepared for his own labours to come.

Much wood would be carried on the shoulders of the body of Christ.

On that divine head, which cradles the mind of God, was set a crown of thorns. Through each thorn that pierced his skull, he thinks and ponders. Lying below this wreath of pain were the ears that heard the cries of mourning, and the grumbling of in-

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sults, mockery and accusations. Let us not forget the divine eyes which caught sight of the distressed Veronica. He welcomed her compassion and wiped his face with her cloth. Thus, she clings to the face of Jesus forever in her palms.

The divine mouth which uttered prayers to God the Father consoles the daughters of Jerusalem. The head of Jesus turns to face Golgotha and there will be crucified the body of Christ.

The hands of Christ

The hands of Jesus, forever a priest in the order of Melchizedek, which healed the blind, deaf and lame; which chased away the dealers who dared to turn his father’s house into a place of trade; these very hands which embraced the Blessed Mother, are pierced.

The feet which walked on the Sea of Galilee, which sojourned with the chosen Twelve, are nailed to the cross. Beneath it are those who dared to stay

until his death. They grieve over the wounded body of Christ.

With a loud cry, the holy voice lamented the seemingly lost presence of God. Who among us has not ever felt abandoned by God at some point?

With the piercing of the lance into Jesus’ side, his love for us is manifested.

There, for all of humanity, flowed the Precious Blood from the Sacred Heart.

A heart which loves, and loves unceasingly. All was given, all of the body of Christ.

He rose on the third day. He rose to the glory of God. He rose that we may have life and have it in abundance. But Thomas, drunk on incredulity, did not believe. But when he saw the flesh and placed his hands in Christ’s wounds, he took it for the truth. Blessed are we who have not seen and yet believe. May we also rise like him, may we also share in his glory, may we pour forth the light of the risen body of Christ.

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The Southern Cross

27

Who’ll wear a red hat?

Raymond Perrier on Faith & Society

Photo: Paul Haring/CNS

B

EING BASED IN DURBAN, I have spent a lot of time lately explaining that Archbishop Siegfried Jwara, who was installed as our local archbishop on August 8, is not “the new cardinal”. For 20 of his 29 years as archbishop of Durban, Wilfrid Napier was also a cardinal; and since he is the only cleric of that rank in South Africa, he is often referred to simply as “The Cardinal”. So inevitably, in many people’s minds, the two roles — archbishop of Durban and cardinal — have become merged.

Before Napier there had been only one other South African cardinal: Owen McCann, the archbishop of Cape Town, who received the red hat in 1965. (Incidentally, after his retirement as archbishop in 1985, Cardinal McCann was the editor of The Southern Cross for six years; it is not known whether our newly-retired cardinal aspires to follow in those red-slippered footsteps!)

The Catholic Church has had an established presence in what is now South Africa for 203 years, and an episcopal hierarchy for 70 years. But there has been a South African cardinal in place for only a combined 50 years. So it is not a standard for the local Church to have a cardinal.

Cardinal Napier, who turned 80 in March, will retain that title until his death. Cardinals in this part of the world tend to enjoy longevity. Cardinal Sebastian Koto Khoarai of Lesotho died in April aged 91. At the time of going to print, there are two — Cardinals Dos Santos and Langa — still alive in Mozambique aged 93 and 97; and two more in Angola, aged 96 and a mere 82. And Cardinal McCann was 86 when he died in 1994. It looks like the red hat might be a fount of eternal youth in Southern Africa!

But under a rule established by

Pope Paul VI in 1970, cardinals over the age of 80 do not vote in a conclave to elect a new pontiff. That’s one of the principal roles of a cardinal, as well as being a close adviser to the current pope. So the presence in Southern Africa of five cardinals, none aged below 80, means that if a conclave were held tomorrow, there would be no voice from this part of the continent.

Geographically, the closest voting-age cardinals to us are in the Democratic Republic of Congo (3 700km from Johannesburg), Tanzania (3 500km) and Madagascar (2 100km).

Far from Rome

Under previous papacies this might not have mattered or even been noticed, but Pope Francis has gone out of his way to appoint cardinals who serve in places far from Rome to show the true universality of the Catholic Church. In fact, 19 countries which never before had cardinals have been drawn into the conclave

by Francis’ appointments, including such surprising “un-Catholic” places as Myanmar, Sweden and Morocco. Because there is a theoretical limit to the number of cardinal electors (120), the inclusion of these countries has meant

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28 The Southern Cross

the exclusion of places that “expect” to have a cardinal.

The reason for this expectation goes back to the origins of the college of cardinals. While clearly not part of the early Church, the naming of the close advisers of the Bishop of Rome — the pope — as cardinals emerges in the 8th century. By the Middles Ages they were operating as a papal court. For this role, and in an age before international communications, physical proximity to the pope obviously mattered. And this remains true up to a point. For example, membership is still skewed towards those who are in the Roman curia (30 of the current electors). Many, but not all, of these are Italian by origin, to which we can add the nine cardinals who are bishops of Italian dioceses.

That means a very Italo-centric view of the Church.

But Pope Francis has reduced the number of Italian dioceses which have cardinals (to the dismay of traditionalists and partisans), and has also appointed many non-Italians to Roman jobs. As the first non-European pope for 13 centuries, Francis (even if he himself is the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina) has ensured that many more of those who advise him, and who will elect his successor, reflect how “catholic” the Church has become.

So it is to be hoped that by the time the next conclave happens (and we pray that is many years away), there will be voices in the Sistine Chapel which reflect the experience of the Church in the countries that make up the Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA) territory: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, São

Tomé and Príncipe, Zimbabwe and, of course, South Africa. This would be in keeping with the inclusive vision of the Church that Francis has been promoting.

Women cardinals?

There is something else that Pope Francis might consider in order to promote inclusivity. It was only in 1917 that the rule was set that cardinals had to be priests.

Before then, there were times when lay people were made cardinals, albeit usually relatives (legitimately or illegitimately) of the pope. Any rule that is made can be unmade, especially if there is a precedent to support that. I don’t intend exploring the question of whether women can be Catholic priests — after all, Pope John Paul II decreed that we may not even discuss the possibility — but we can explore the idea of lay women being made cardinals.

Earlier this year, Francis appointed a woman to the Synod of Bishops. The esteemed Cardinal Mario Grech, who leads that dicastery (and the Maltese generally are not renowned for their liberalism), commented that “a door has been opened”. So Francis could decide to open that door a little wider. He could appoint a number of women cardinals. They could not themselves become pope, but at least they would have an influence in electing a future pope. This would ensure that the Sistine Chapel included not only the voices of the global south but also the voices of the 51% of the human family who are women.

In doing this, the Holy Father would be fulfilling a prophecy for the Church that Pope Paul VI made 56 years ago at the end of the Second Vatican Council when talking about the wider world: “The hour is coming, in fact it has come, when the vocation of women is being fully recognised, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never previously achieved.”

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Can we prove God exists?

I

WROTE MY DOCTORAL THESIS ON THE value of various philosophical arguments that try to prove the existence of God. Can there be such a proof? Brilliant philosophers, from Anselm to Aquinas to Descartes to contemporary intellectuals like Charles Hartshorne, submit that the existence of God can be proven through rational argument. Except, except, a lot depends upon what exactly we mean by the word “prove”. How do we prove something?

There’s a legend about St Christopher that’s pertinent here: Christopher was a man gifted in every way, except faith. He was physically strong, powerful, goodhearted, mellow, and well-liked. He was also generous, using his physical strength to help others, but he found it hard to believe in God, even though he wanted to.

For him, the physical was what was real and everything else seemed unreal. And so, as the legend goes, he lived his life in a certain honest agnosticism, unable to really believe in anything beyond what he could physically see, feel and touch.

However, this did not prevent him from using his gifts, especially his physical strength, to serve others. This was his refuge: generosity and service. He became a ferryboat operator, spending his life helping to carry people across a dangerous river. One night, the legend goes, the ferryboat capsized during a storm and Christopher dived into the dark waters to rescue a young child. Carrying that child to the shore, he looked into its face — and saw there the face of Christ. After that, he believed, for he had seen the face of Christ.

For all its piety, this legend contains a profound lesson. It changes the perspective on the question of how one tries to “prove” God’s existence. Our attempt to prove God’s existence has to be practical, existential and incarnate rather than mainly intellectual. How do we move from believing only in the physical — from believing only in the reality of what we can see, feel, touch, taste and smell — to believing in the existence of deeper, spiritual realities?

When God appears There’s a lesson in the Christopher story: Live as honestly and respectfully as you can, and use your gifts to help others.

God will appear. God is not found at the conclusion of a philosophical syllogism but as the result of a certain way of living.

Moreover, faith is not so much a question of feeling as of selfless service.

There’s a further lesson in the biblical account of the apostle Thomas, and his

doubt about the resurrection of Jesus. Remember his protest: “Unless I can (physically) place my finger in the wounds of his hands and stick my finger into the wound of his side, I will not believe.” Note that Jesus offers no resistance or rebuke in the face of Thomas’ scepticism. Instead, he takes Thomas at his word: “Come and (physically) place your finger in the wounds of my hand and the wound in my side; see for yourself that I am real and not a ghost.”

That’s the open challenge for us: “Come and see for yourselves that God is real and not a ghost!” That challenge, however, is not so much an intellectual one as a moral one, a challenge to be honest and generous.

We can be sceptics Scepticism and agnosticism, even atheism, are not a problem as long as one is honest, non-rationalising, non-lying, ready to efface oneself before reality as it appears, and generous in giving one’s life away in service. If these conditions are met, God — the author and source of all reality — eventually becomes sufficiently real, even to those who need physical proof. The stories of St Christopher and St Thomas teach us this and assure us that God is neither angered nor threatened by an honest agnosticism.

Faith is never certainty. Neither is it a sure feeling that God exists. Conversely, unbelief is not to be confused with the absence of the felt assurance that God exists. For everyone, there will be dark nights of the soul, silences of God, cold lonely seasons, sceptical times when God’s reality cannot be consciously grasped or recognised. The history of faith, as witnessed by the life of Jesus and the lives of the saints, shows us that God often seems dead and, at those times, the reality of the empirical world can so overpower us that nothing seems real except what we can see and feel right now, not least our own pain.

Whenever this happens, like Christopher and Thomas, we need to become honest agnostics who use our goodness and God-given strengths to help carry others across the burdensome rivers of life. God does not ask us to have a faith that is certain but a service that is generous and sustained. We have the assurance that should we faithfully help carry others, we will one day find ourselves before the reality of God who will gently say to us: “See for yourself, that I am real, and not a ghost.”

Can we prove that God exists? In theory, no; in life, yes.

The Southern Cross

29

Every month FR CHRIS CHATTERIS SJ reflects on Pope Francis’ prayer intention

Photo: Jakob Owen/Unsplash

PRAY WITH THE POPE

Go out into the world...

Missionary disciples: We pray that every baptised person may be engaged in evangelisation, available to the mission, by being witnesses of a life that has the flavour of the Gospel.

how they can witness effectively in will certainly contribute to the quality HE POPE’S INTENTION FOR their everyday lives. How can I, as a of the ethos. And it will be noticed by October conjures up images of committed follower of Christ, con- the more perceptive who might then be enthusiastic lay missionaries tribute to a more Christian ethos in the prompted to find out what makes this heading off into uncharted particular realms of the “secular” order Christian person tick. missionary territory and employing that I move in? Probably not by their skills as teachers, medical practi- thumping a Bible or collaring people ‘Unfashionable’ God tioners and project managers. No and asking them if they are saved.

We should not underestimate the doubt there are such generous volunchallenge in all this today. Certain More deeds than words topics of conversation are off-limits in teers doing such admirable work, and more power to their elbows. But they Deeds rather than words is a good certain secular environments. It is not constitute a tiny minority of the bap- start. A Jesuit colleague used to play fashionable at all in certain tertiary tised. The intention speaks of “every squash with members of the Christian academic settings to profess a belief in baptised person”.

Union when he was studying at a secu- God. As for belonging to an organised Another difficulty here is the pop- lar university in the UK. He discovered Christian religion, some may regard it ular Catholic idea about lay ministry. that the Evangelicals’ way of witnessing as extremely retrograde.

We find it hard to shake off the idea to Christ on the squash court was to reThen there is the understandable that lay ministers are quasi-clergy or frain from swearing when losing a fear that being identified as a Catholic even just assistants to the clergy. point! We may smile, but it shows that will elicit awkward and embarrassing The vision of Vatican II was questions around things like not of multitudes of laypeople the clerical abuse scandal. The Anti-Catholic attitudes can be becoming lay ministers but of fact is that the institutional most laypeople making their changed only if people see that the Church gets a very bad press Christian mark on the “secular these days, for reasons that are ordinary Catholic is the real deal all order”. That is to say, the world too understandable. of their ordinary, daily exisSuch attitudes, arising out tence — family, work, leisure. There are they were at least thinking about the of real and concrete failures of the inobviously areas of life in which the problem of how to be witnesses in sec- stitution, can be changed only if peopriest cannot exercise any direct influ- ular spaces such as sport. Do we ple see that the ordinary Catholic is ence — the business boardroom, the Catholics think about how to bear witthe real deal, an authentic believer school governing body, the factory ness to the Lord in such spaces? who lives out their beliefs. This by no trade union or the police station.

So, if a Christian behaves in a con- means guarantees a more favourable The word “ethos” might help the sistently loving way, and creatively so, view of the institutional Church. I average good Catholic as they ponder with those around him or her, then this have a strong impression that even though Pope Francis gets high approval ratings in much of the secular press, this has not necessarily changed P O Box 379 CB INDUSTRIAL AND Cape Town 8000 suspicious attitudes of the secular press Tel 021 465 5904 FASTENER SUPPLIES towards the institution that he leads.

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30

The Southern Cross

Prayer Corner Your prayers to cut out and collect Do you have a favourite prayer?

Please send to editor@scross.co.za

LORD I COME TO YOU

AS ONE SICK...to the Divine Healer, AS ONE UNCLEAN...to the Fountain of Mercy, AS ONE BLIND...to the Light of Eternal Brightness,

AS ONE DEAF...to the Word made Flesh, AS ONE SEEKING TRUTH...to the Source of Wisdom,

PRAYER FOR PRIESTS

O Jesus, I pray for your faithful and fervent priests; for your unfaithful and tepid priests; for your priests labouring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for your tempted priests; for your lonely and desolate priests; for your young priests; for your dying priests.

But above all, I recommend to you the priests dearest to me: the priest who baptised me; the priests who absolved me from my sins; the priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me Your Body and Blood in Holy Communion.

O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart, and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity.

Amen

PRAYER TO ST JOHN PAUL II

AS ONE HUNGRY...to the Bread of Angels,

AS ONE THIRSTY...to the Spirit’s Living Water,

AS ONE SEEKING ETERNAL LIFE...to the Resurrected Christ.

- Fr Ralph de Hahn

st John paul, from the window of heaven, grant us your blessing!

Bless the church that you loved and served and guided, courageously leading it along the paths of the world in order to bring Jesus to everyone and everyone to Jesus.

Bless the young, who were your great passion. help them dream again, help them look up high to find the light that illuminates the paths of life here on earth.

Amen

St Francis of Assisi Prayer Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace; Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek:

To be consoled as to console; To be understood, as to understand; To be loved, as to love; For it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen The Southern Cross

31

Anagram Challenge 1

Franciscan WordSearch

Unscramble the clues below to work out which RELIGIOUS ORDERS hide in these words

To SSe S JU I CY F o e

2

TI R e Le SS R o o ST

3

He R MI TS o R B R A TS

4

SI S SHo T R e F e CTo R Y SLo SH

5

B R e A THLe SS o LD e A R L

6

SHo R Te ST B I R CH R A I N

MAXIMILIAN KOLBE NICHOLAS IV PADRE PIO RABELAIS ROGER BACON RUFINO THEA BOWMAN WILLIAM SLATTERY

Find the names of these Franciscans:

ANTHONY OF PADUA BONAVENTURE CATERINA CLAIRE OF ASSISI FRANCIS JOHN CAPISTRANO MARIANNE COPE

Hint: All congregations have operated schools in South Africa

FaLLEN PhraSE: Place the missing letters to get a lyric from a famous hymn N

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Southern Crossword: The Month of the Rosary

Across

DoWn

4. Beg idol about being bound (7) 1. Put the sword back where it was (7) 8. The object of the Ascension (6) 2. Scourging (7) 9. Fellow allowed rosary beads (7) 3. Skin on which 10. Pray for a short time (6) old texts were written (6) 11. Mystery has come to light 5. Go towards from Paris ensemble (6) John the Baptist’s end (8) 12. Our Lady’s self-title (8) 6. How Jesus experienced 18. Like Christ, suffering his Passion (2,4) patiently (8) 7. Figure the Apostles 20. Belief that God exists (6) without Judas (6) 21. How John reached the tomb 13.

Angel’s greeting in song? (3,5) before Peter (Jn 20) (6) 14.

Jesus had to do it 22. Mary is asked to pray before being crucified (7) for them and us (7) 15. Jesus’ sufferings (7) 23. Not a strong kind of faith (6) 16. Times of Peter’s denials (6) 24. Withdraw for time of prayer (7) 17. His name could be Victor (6) 19. Not accustomed to the brand-new (6)

32

The Southern Cross

For all solutions turn to page 34

Cl

Quick Crossword

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Across

CODEWORD: Combine the letters in the shaded boxes to form the name of a SA diocese

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

2. Marian shrine in Germany and Mariannhill (8) 3. Latin for Kingdom (6) 5. Catholic US president (3,5) 8. Gauteng home founded by Domitilla Hyams (6,4) 9. Clerical skullcap (9) 12. Mary’s conception and heart (10) 14. Third of the Trinity (4, 6) 15. Co-patron of Italy (9,2,5) 18. Catholic lay movement (6,2,4) 19. Italian Euch. miracle town (8) 20. John Bosco’s order (9) 21. Herod’s son (e.g. Lk 13:32) (7) 22. Sistine Chapel artist (12) 23. Name of nine popes (8)

The Catholic Trivia Quiz 1. What are the two colours on the Vatican flag? a) Yellow and Green b) Yellow and Red c) Yellow and White 2. Which of St Paul’s epistles was probably the last to be written? a) Philemon b) Timothy c) Titus 3. In which diocese is the parish of Worcester? a) Cape Town b) Keimoes-Upington c) Oudtshoorn 4. Who founded the Marist Brothers? a) Jean-Baptiste de La Salle b) Edmund Rice c) Marcellin Champagnat

DoWn

1. Archbishop Jwara’s first name (9) 3. OT book of laws (9) 4. Part of clerical vestments (8) 6. Journey of faith (10) 7. Samson’s hairdresser (7) 10. Country of Charles Lwanga (6) 11. Cape Town hospital named after a saint (7,8) 12. Nigeria’s biggest diocese (5) 13. Pope Wojtyla (4,4,2) 16. KZN town of St Joseph’s Theological Institute (6) 17. St Thérèse’s hometown (7) 19. Prophet in a whale (5) 20. Archbishop’s wool cloth (7) 21. Short for the name Ezekiel (4)

6. Bradley Cooper, a practising Catholic, and Catholic-raised Lady Gaga played the leads in which film? a) A Star Is Born b) Roma c) The Favourite 7. Which Old Testament book features the line, “By the skin of your teeth”? a) Zecharia b) Job c) Amos 8. Which pioneer Oblate bishop in Natal was ordained by St Eugene de Mazenod, founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate? a) Francois Allard b) Henri Delalle c) Charles Jolivet

9. How many 20th century popes 5. Of which city was St John Paul II archbishop before his papal election? were canonised to the sainthood? a) 2 b) 4 c) 6 a) Gdansk b) Krakow c) Warsaw

Q5: Pope

Q6: Lady Gaga Q11: Prelate

10. Which religious order for women is abbreviated CPS? a) Precious Blood Sisters c) Sisters of Charity c) Sisters of St Paul 11. Which diocese did Archbishop Zolile Mpambani head before he was transferred to Bloemfontein? a) Kimberley b) Klerksdorp c) Kokstad 12. Which former world footballer of the year is a Catholic? a) Lionel Messi b) Kaka c) Ronaldinho

Cooking with Saints

Every month GRAZIA BARLETTA prepares a recipe from Catholic

tradition in her Cape Town kitchen, and shares it with our readers

P

in text and photos taken exclusively for The Southern Cross by the

OPE ST JOHN XXIII WAS born in 1881 as Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli in the village of Sotto il Monte, in the hills around Bergamo in the northern Italian Lombardy region.

chef herself. THIS MONTH GRAZIA COOKED:

PAPAL PoLeNTA

This issue’s Saint of the Month came from a long family line of hard-working farmers who toiled the land. They were also rich in their faith and kept close ties with family. It was these deep roots with faith, family and the land that helped Angelo through his life. As “Good Pope John” he was deeply loved by the Catholic faithful, and because of the qualities of his soul, he was also loved by people of goodwill everywhere, whatever their nationality or creed.

His love for all mankind, his fervent work for religious amity and world peace, and his warm humanity made his death in 1963 grieved around the globe.

Pope John’s favourite “comfort” food was polenta, recalling his peasant upbringing. It’s popular in the little villages of Lombardy, and he never lost his taste for it.

Polenta can be eaten on its own on a meatless day. Similar to our pap, it’s made from maizemeal and is the staple food of northern Italy. It is eaten either warm with a little butter, or cooled until firm, cut into wedges, and fried. This recipe is a particularly delicious version of polenta, owing to the parmesan cheese and olive oil that is added to the basic

maizemeal porridge. I have chosen a baked version in which raisins may be added. Once removed from the oven, the top is crispy and the middle is soft yet firm. This is a rustic dish that is savoury with a hint of sweetness — and fit for peasants and popes! preparation: 40 min • servings: 6

prEpArAtion: 1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. 2. Bring the water, olive oil and raisins to the boil in a medium-sized pot.

3. Add the polenta and keep stirring.

4. Mix in the parmesan cheese and stir until the polenta is thick, then add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Place the cooked polenta into a greased round baking tin. Brush with a little olive oil and then place a few dots of butter on the top.

5. Bake in the preheated oven at 200°C for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

6. Remove from oven and the baking tin. Let cool.

7. Slice polenta into wedges.

Serve with a salad or eat as is.

8. Enjoy with the prayer to Pope St John XXIII!

inGrEDiEnts:

• 250g polenta meal • 125g seedless raisins (optional) • 20ml olive oil • 750ml cold water • 50g grated parmesan cheese • Salt & pepper to taste • Extra olive oil & butter

Grazia Barletta is an author, book designer, and food photographer & stylist. She can be contacted at graziabarletta1@gmail.com Follow her blog at www.momentswithgrazia.com and connect with Grazia on Facebook/Instagram: momentswithgrazia

SoLUTIoNS

SouthernCrossword:

ACROSS: 4 Obliged, 8 Heaven, 9 Chaplet, 10 Awhile, 11 Arisen, 12 Handmaid, 18 Enduring, 20 Theism, 21 Outran, 22 Sinners, 23 Feeble, 24 Retreat. DOWN: 1 Sheathe, 2 Lashing, 3 Vellum, 5 Beheaded, 6 In pain, 7 Eleven, 13 Ave Maria, 14 Disrobe, 15 Agonies, 16 Thrice, 17 Winner, 19 Unused

Anagram Challenge: 1. Society of Jesus, 2. Loreto Sisters, 3. Marist Brothers, 4. Sisters of the Holy Cross, 5. De La Salle Brothers, 6. Christian Brothers

Fallen Phrase: “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found.”

34 The Southern Cross

Quick Crossword: ACROSS: 2 Kevelaer, 3 Regnum,

5 Joe Biden, 8 Little Eden, 9 Zucchetto, 12 Immaculate, 14 Holy Spirit, 15 Catherine of Siena, 18 Legion of Mary, 19 Lanciano, 20 Salesians, 21 Antipas, 22 Michelangelo, 23 Boniface, 24 Fishing Net DOWN: 1 Siegfried, 3 Leviticus, 4 Surplice, 6 Pilgrimage, 7 Delilah, 10 Uganda, 11 Vincent Pallotti, 12 Lagos, 13 John Paul II, 16 Cedara, 17 Lisieux, 19 Jonah, 20 Pallium, 21 Zeke — CODEWORD: Mariannhill

Catholic Trivia Quiz:

1. c) Yellow and white; 2. b) Timothy (about 67AD); 3. c) Oudtshoorn; 4. a) Marcellin Champagnat; 5. b) Krakow; 6. a) A Star Is Born; 7. b) Job (19:20 – “I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth”); 8. a) Francois Allard; 9. b) 4 (Pius X, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II); 10. a) Precious Blood Sisters; 11. c) Kokstad; 12. b) Lionel Messi

S outhern C ross P ilgrimages 2022 will be our year!

In 2020 we looked forward to some wonderful pilgrimages, taking us to places of faith such as the Holy Land, Rome, Assisi, Medjugorje, the Oberammergau Passion Play, and the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Then the pandemic closed down travel throughout the world for two years. But after several delays, we are confident that in 2022 the borders will be open again, and we can resume going on pilgrimage. Join us on our spiritually enriching and perfectly arranged journey of faith!

CAMINO TO SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA

Official 7-Day Camino 30 Sept to 9 Oct 2022 • Led by Fr Chris Townsend

Walk the ancient ‘Camino Primitivo’ route from Lugo to Santiago de Compostela!

Bonus: Your luggage will be delivered to your hotel every day!

www.fowlertours.co.za/camino

MEDJUGORJE, ROME, ASSISI, CROATIA Led by Archbishop Stephen Brislin 9-18 May 2022

Before Medjugorje, you will visit Rome (with papal audience in St Peter’s Square), Assisi, Loreto (with the House of Our Lady), and the beautiful Croatian city of Split.

www.fowlertours.co.za/medju

OBERAMMERGAU AND HOLY LAND Led by Archbishop William Slattery OFM August/September 2022

See the great holy shrines of the Holy Land, including the sites of Our Lord’s Passion, before flying to Germany to tour in Bavaria and see the famous Oberammergau Passion Play.

www.fowlertours.co.za/oberammergau

Contact Gail at info@fowlertours.co.za or call or WhatsApp 076 352-3809 *All dates subject to confirmation

Our pilgrimages are expertly arranged by

Final Words Great Quotes by

St John Paul II

history in Colour

A snapshot from the past, colourised exclusively for The Southern Cross

‘Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of states, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilisation and development. Do not be afraid.

Christ knows “what is in man”.

He alone knows it.’

– First address as pope in St Peter’s Square on October 22, 1978

‘True holiness does not mean a flight from the world; rather, it lies in the effort to incarnate the Gospel in everyday life, in the family, at school and at work, and in social and political involvement.’

– International Meeting of the Catholic Fraternity of Covenant Communities and Fellowships, November 1996

‘Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against the natural instinct to pay back evil with evil.’

– World Day of Peace Message, January 2002

‘God’s love does not impose burdens upon us that we cannot carry, nor make demands of us that we cannot fulfil. For whatever he asks of us, he provides the help that is needed.’

– Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way, 2004

‘The earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love the land and then take steps to destroy it for use by future generations.’

– Mass for the rural workers, September 17, 1987

‘Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.’

– Mass in Baltimore, USA, October 8, 1995

‘Darkness can only be scattered by light, hatred can only be conquered by love.’

– Address to Diplomatic Corps, January 10, 2002

This is St Thérèse of Lisieux dressed as another great French saint: Joan of Arc. Thérèse portrayed the Maid of Orléans — who was yet to be canonised but to whom she had a strong devotion— in a play at the Carmelite convent in Lisieux staged on January 21, 1895, a couple of weeks before Thérèse Martin received her habit. The play, titled Joan of Arc Accomplishing Her Mission, was the third play Thérèse had written; the first was also about Joan of Arc, the second about angels at the manger.

According to her sister Céline, Thérèse “was almost burned alive when a fire accidentally broke out” during the scene of Joan’s execution. “Upon Mother Prioress’ order not to move while others strove to extinguish the fire around her, she remained calm and still amid the danger, offering to God the sacrifice of her life.”

St Thérèse died on September 30, 1897, at only 24 years of age. She was canonised in 1925. Her feast day is on October 1. St Joan of Arc was canonised in 1920.

The last laugh T

he priest had lived a missionary life of virtue. So when he found himself in purgatory shackled to a nasty old drunk, he was quite dismayed. And his frustration grew even greater when he spotted his bishop — shackled to a gorgeous supermodel.

The priest called for St Peter to register his complaint, but was cut short. “That is none of your concern,” St Peter snapped. “You just get on with your penance — and let her get on with hers!”

Buy the Church Chuckles book of Catholic jokes!

email books@scross.co.za or go to www.digital.scross.co.za/church-chuckles

The biggest collection of Catholic jokes yet!

500 jokes with 60 cartoons by Conrad!

ONLY R180 (plus R30 p&p)

Order from admin@scross.co.za or www.digital.scross.co.za/church-chuckles

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