Wm february 2014

INSIDE: LOVE AND CARE • NELSON MANDELA • A CHURCH OF HOPE • ANNALENA TONELLI

FEAR NOT Love is stronger than fear Forgiveness is the ultimate answer Let’s face the mental illness pandemic

FEBRUARY 2014 • N O. 275 • VOL X X VI • 50 PESOS • ISSN 0116-8142

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EDITORIAL

FEARLESS LOVE The Asian Catholic Monthly Magazine

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EDITOR: Fr. Dave C. Domingues, MCCJ REDACTION: Corazon A. Uy (secretary), Fr. Jose Rebelo,MCCJ and Fr. Lorenzo Carraro, MCCJ (staff writers) COLLABORATORS: Manuel Giraldes (Portugal), Fr. Joseph Caramazza (UK), Fr. Francesco Pierli (Kenya) and Kris Bayos (Philippines) MANAGEMENT: Fr. Raul Tabaranza, MCCJ wm.administration@gmail.com Ma. Corazon P. Molvizar (secretary) Angeles S. de Vera (circulation) PROMOTION: Fr. Dave C. Domingues, MCCJ wm.promotion@gmail.com ART & DESIGN DIRECTION: Ric M. Gindap GRAPHICS & DESIGN: Victor Garcia SUBSCRIPTION RATES: (11 issues and Calendar) Regular (Philippines):.........................P500.00/year Six months (Philippines):...........................P300.00 Overseas–Air mail: Asia................................US$35 Rest of the world.............................................US$40 DISTRIBUTION: WORLD MISSION is distributed to subscribers by mail. Entered as Second Class Mail at the Parañaque Central Post Office under Permit No. 214-89 (March 9, 1989; valid until December 31, 2013). Published monthly in Parañaque City, M.M. Composition: World Mission. Printed by Lexmedia Digital Corp.

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T

“

here is only one religion, the religion of love. There is only one language, the language of the heart. There is only one race, the race of humanity. There is only one God, and He is omnipresent.” With this striking words, Sathya Sai Baba, a highly revered Indian spiritual leader and world teacher, invites people to turn to God and to lead more purposeful and moral lives. Hundreds of pilgrims make their way to the tiny hamlet in southern India where Sathya Sai Baba's ashram (spiritual headquarters) is located. They seek peace, harmony, comfort, righteous living. If he tries to catalyze people for God through the power of love, there are many other gurus of religion who use fear and coercion to keep their flock.

In our Christian tradition, fear is also used as a means to promote faith and move the faithful to an obedient following of the doctrines defended.

At times, through forceful indoctrination with no room left for the inquisitive spirit. But, more often, through unconscious attitudes that lead to fear and subservience. At present, as I visit different parishes for ministry, I still often hear remarks of parents to their children such as: Huwag kang maingay! Magagalit ang Diyos. (Don’t be noisy! God will get mad at you!); Upo ka nang maayos! Parurusahan ka ng Diyos! (Sit properly or God will punish you!); Kung hindi ka magsisimba, pupunta ka sa impyerno! (If you don’t go to church, you will go to hell!). These expressions, along with many others, are certainly well-intentioned but constitute a wrong message and create fear instead of love. To subjugate children through fear will not lead to form a personal morality and belief system, but rather will alienate people, reducing religion to an empty formality or a heavy burden one has to carry for the sake of pleasing God. Pope Francis has often emphasized this danger of replacing love

DAVE DOMINGUES EDITOR

The mission of the Church is to touch peoples’ lives with the love and the mercy of God, truly believing in the power of God’s love which is far above and beyond our faults and failings.

with fear. He reminded even the ministers of the Sacrament of Reconciliation not to make the confessional a “torture chamber but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy.”

The mission of the Church is to touch peoples’ lives with the love and the mercy of God, truly believing in the power of God’s love which is far above and beyond our faults and failings.

Faith, lived as a relationship with God, demands a communion which is founded on love, therefore, healing our wounds, renewing our spirits and bringing us to be family with God. I do not advocate milder ethics or easier virtues nor do I want to change the Gospel. But I do believe that only a fearless love can allow us to make a journey of faith where we feel liberated and, therefore, become capable of extending to others the invitation to make that experience which has been for us life-giving. Pope Francis, recently, in Assisi, spent a good portion of his time with the physically and intellectually disabled, taking the time to carefully greet each of them, kissing them on their foreheads. Those scenes capture the hearts of countless people throughout the world – believers and non-believers alike. Indeed, God is love and only a fearless love can draw us to God and bring us to mirror, in the world, the eternal love that God continues to nurture for all.

With American rock/pop musician Melissa Etheridge, I feel like singing: “I want a fearless love, I won’t settle for anything less.”

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YOUR LET TERS Write to: The Editor, World Mission Magazine • 7885 Segundo Mendoza Street, Villa Mendoza Subd. − Sucat 1715 Parañaque City, M.M. – Philippines • E-mail: wm.editor@gmail.com ALARMING Isn't it alarming, the rate at which the Catholics are converting into the charismatic "Born Again" evangelical sects? Not until the Catholic Church leaders and authorities admit the shortcomings of the Church as to making Christianity relevant to the lives of the youth or followers will they stem the flow. The youth probably see fiestas, novenas and the like as irrelevant as compared to being shown the "Word of God" as solutions to their problems and fears, which is the thrust of the evangelicals. I often point this out to Church leaders and they are often in denial and would just make fun of the "Born Again" sects. In contrast, Bo Sanchez has adopted their methods without giving up on Catholic beliefs such as holding of Masses and the presence of the image of Mary in every prayer meeting. The result is a very vibrant gathering where the attendees get to hear Mass and listen to the teachings preceded by praise and worship using contemporary Christian music. In his own word, Bo Sanchez gets to the "unchurched" and keeps on bringing them back to the fold. He has successfully gained a great following of Catholics who would have, otherwise, converted or who would have remained inactive.

Finally, we are able to attend our own Catholic prayer meetings which are vibrant and meaningful! « Margarita Lopez (Received by e-mail) GREETINGS Congratulations to the World Mission magazine for winning the 2013 Catholic Mass Media Awards as Best Family Oriented Magazine. I am also extending my special congratulations to you, Fr. Dave and Fr. Jose Rebelo, for winning the 2013 CMMA Best Special Feature in your piece, Fr. Peter Geremia: A Living Legend. Also, please extend my congratulations to Fr. Lorenzo Carraro for winning the 2013 CMMA Best Short Story in his piece, The Naughty Nun. Indeed, you did a great job. Congratulations to all of you! More power to the World Mission magazine. You feed us, readers, with the features and information of high quality standards. « JOE ANTHONY B. CERBATOS, Iloilo City, Philippines

GOD LOVES THE POOR As I always read in your World Mission magazine about the different situations of need in the world, I always feel that God truly loves the poor and rejected. I am a lay missionary helping organize

Basic Christian Communities. I felt a desire to join group of missionary priests but my fear was that I might be overaged (44), though I have finished my college degree.

Do I have a chance? Thank you so much! « MILLIAN MASLOG (Facebook) PASSION FOR READING I am very sorry that I can no longer renew my subscription to World Mission. Much as I enjoyed reading your interesting, wellresearched articles, I am constrained to avoid “taxing” my eyes due to a developing glaucoma.

Please accept my little Christmas check for whatever worthwhile cause you may want to spend it.

My sincerest thanks for the beautiful 2014 calendar.

Please pray that my vision will improve and my eye pressure will return to normal. Reading is my passion.

Thank you and God bless. « CARMINA P. CATAPANG, Sta. Mesa Heights, Quezon City, Philippines

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www.worldmission.ph EVENTS TO REMEMBER IN FEBRUARY 02 - Feast of the Presentation of the Lord 06 - St. Pedro Bautista, St. Paul Miki & Companions 11 - World Day of the Sick 14 - Valentine’s Day 20 - World Day of Social Justice 22 - Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, The Apostle PRAYER FOR EVANGELIZATION

That priests, religious, and lay people may work together with generosity for evangelization.

INSIDE CHOOSE TO LOVE

It is commonly said that love is not an emotion but rather it calls for action. Being so, love cannot be left to the changing feelings but it has to spring from a conscious choice one makes every day in life. We choose to love as we choose to live! Love can never be a passive or spontaneous experience. One has to work on it day in and day out. It takes time, effort, and energy. And most importantly, it demands wisdom to transcend egoism and self-centeredness, finding fulfillment in selflessness – reaching out to others with compassion and mercy, always taking the first step. This conscious decision to love and the acceptance of its demands is life-giving to our human relationships and it is the key experience of our own relationship with God. To fail to love is to sterilize faith, reducing it to a cold practice. On the other hand, in our conscious effort to love, mistakes and shortcomings are inevitable. This is where forgiveness enters for forgiveness is a straight path to unconditional love.

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WORLD TOUCH

WM SPECIAL | FEAR AND RELIGION

FRONTIERS

The human face of Philippine poverty

BY FR.SHAY CULLEN, PREDA

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FILIPINO FOCUS | LOVE AND CARE

Seeing angels in special children

BY KRIS BAYOS , JOURNALIST

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FRONTLINE | NELSON MANDELA

Champion of peace and human rights

BY FR. SHAY CULLEN, SSC

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MEDITATION | A CHURCH OF HOPE

Future horizons

BY FR. LORENZO CARRARO, MCCJ

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MISSIONARY VOCATION | ANNALENA TONELLI

Mother Teresa of Somalia

BY FR. LORENZO CARRARO, MCCJ

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THE LAST WORD

The first pope meets the pagans

BY FR. SILVANO FAUSTI, SJ

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LOVE IS STRONGER THAN FEAR

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FORGIVENESS IS THE ULTIMATE ANSWER

BY FR. EMMETT COYNE, CONTRIBUTOR

BY FR. EMMETT COYNE, CONTRIBUTOR

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LET’S FACE THE MENTAL ILLNESS PANDEMIC

BY MANUEL GIRALDES, JOURNALIST

WORLD MISSION has the exclusive services of the following magazines for Asia: ALÉM-MAR (Portugal); MUNDO NEGRO (Spain); NIGRIZIA (Italy); NEW PEOPLE (Kenya); WORLDWIDE (South Africa), AFRIQUESPOIR (DR of Congo); ESQUILA MISIONAL (Mexico); MISION SIN FRONTERAS (Peru); and IGLESIA SINFRONTERAS (Colombia).

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W O R L DTO U C H RELIGION/GLOBAL SOUTH

IN SPITE OF PERSECUTION, CHRISTIANITY IS GROWING Researchers say the Christian population is growing in regions that experience anti-Christian persecution, though this threatens their ability to contribute to societies. “Persecution is growing because Christianity is growing in the places where people are persecuted,” said Todd Johnson of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Speaking during a media call, he characterized anti-Christian persecution as “growing fast.” His research estimates that one in five Christians of 500 million people currently live in countries where Christians are likely to be persecuted. By 2020, their numbers are expected to rise to 600 million, 25% of the Christian population.

Johnson noted that the Christian population has significantly shifted from Europe and North America to the “Global South”: Africa, Asia and Latin America.

He also observed a change from 20th century anti-Christian persecution, which was predominantly state-based. “Persecution in the 21st century is both state-based and society-based,” Johnson said. “Persecutors today represent a wide variety of ideologies: communist, national security state, religious nationalists, and Muslim majorities.” However, Muslim majority countries’ persecution of Christians makes up only 25% of all such oppression.

Johnson is one of several scholars who took part in the conference, “Christianity and Freedom: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives.” The conference was held on Dec. 13-14 at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome.

Timothy Shah of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, also participated in the media call, explaining that the Rome conference intends to “get behind the headlines” about global antiChristian persecution and ask “fundamental questions” about trends in persecution and their impact on society and global stability. “Wherever you look, there are

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headlines about this growing phenomenon of attacks and persecution against Christian communities, from Indonesia to China, to India, to sub-Saharan Africa and to the Middle East,” Shah said.

Also discussed was the situation of Coptic Christians in Egypt. Mariz Tadros of the University of Sussex noted that Christians in the Middle East do not consider themselves “minorities” because “they see themselves as part of the fabric of society.

They see their faith extending over 2,000

years to when the initial churches were built.” She said that the recent political revolution in Egypt initially had an “extremely inclusive” goal to create space for all citizens irrespective of their religion, gender and class. However, the rise of some Islamic political parties like the Muslim Brotherhood has correlated with an increase in “a very exclusionary discourse” that puts pressure on Christians, nonmainstream versions of Islam and other non-Islamic religions.

Christian churches in Egypt suffered intense attacks in mid-August, when over 64 churches were attacked or burned in one 24-hour period. Tadros said the attacks on Christian churches are unprecedented in modern Egypt since its establishment three centuries ago. Although

religious intolerance is increasing, Tadros also noted a “strong resistance movement” against anti-Christian violence.

She stressed that there were no instances of a Christian responding to violence with violence. “This was extremely important in not bringing the country into a state of civil war,” she explained.

Coptic civil society leaders are advocating not only for the rights of Christians, but for all citizens irrespective of their religion, she said. Tadros also lamented “misrepresentation” and “bias” in news coverage in the U.S. and other Western outlets that neglected the situation of Christians in Egypt. “The plight of the Christians was completely uncovered,” she said. “It made people think, ‘why is it that some people’s suffering is considered more newsworthy than others?’” She urged media coverage to convey local voices and civil society associations that are talking about persecution in their area. However, she also cautioned that such news coverage “does a lot of damage” when it is linked to the interests of the U.S..

Christianity is also growing in China, where there are still “very rigid” restrictions that tend to burden Christianity more than other religions, said Fengang Yang of Purdue University. He explained that the Christian population has passed a “critical threshold” of 5-10% of the population.

“The number of Chinese Protestants is going to grow dramatically,” he said. According to the scholar’s projections, China could become the largest Christian country in the world at some point between 2025 and 2032, surpassing the number of Christians in the U.S. His projections, indicate China’s Protestant population might reach 255 million people.

Fengang said Christianity has become more visible in part through Christians’ prominence in disaster relief efforts, such as the response to the massive 2008 earthquake in Sechuan province. www. catholicnewsagency.com/ Kevin J. Jones

AFGHANISTAN

OPIUM PRODUCTION AT ALL-TIME HIGH "According to the 2013 Afghanistan Opium Survey, cultivation amounted to some 209,000 hectares, outstripping the earlier record in 2007 of 193,000 hectares, and representing a 36% increase over 2012." In short, Afghanistan dedicates more land to the cultivation of opium poppies – than the rest of the world combined. The 131,000 hectares in Afghanistan devoted to opium cultivation are more than the combined 76,500 hectares used to cultivate opium poppies in other places.

These included the 43,600 hectares in Myanmar, the 12,000 hectares in Mexico, the 4,100 hectares in Lao People's Democratic Republic, the 362 hectares in Pakistan, the 338 hectares in Columbia and the combined 16,100 hectares in various other countries, according to the UNODC's World Drug Report, published in May 2013.

The U.S. sent military forces to Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban regime there after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in 2001. According to UNODC, Afghanistan had a record low of 7,606 hectares under cultivation with opium poppies in 2001.

By cont r ast, Afghanistan had had 82,171 h e c t ar e s under cultivation the previous year, 2 0 0 0. T h e U. S . troops' presence in Afghanistan generally increased in the following years, e sp e c ia l ly a f t e r President Barack Obama took office in 2009. A year after the terrorist attacks, in September of 2002, there were 10,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. In January 2009, the month Barack Obama was first inaugurated, there were 32,800 U.S. troops there. By December 2009, there were 69,000. In September 2010, there were 98,000.

In spite of the beefed-up U.S. troops' presence in Afghanistan, the top opium cultivating regions in that country are provinces in the nation's south and west that lie along the borders of Iran and

Pakistan. These include Helmand province, which borders on Pakistan; Kandahar province, which borders on Pakistan; Farah province, which borders on Iran; Nimroz province which borders on Iran and Pakistan and Nangarhar province, which borders on Pakistan.

"The vast majority of opium cultivation remained confined in the country's southern and western provinces, which are dominated by insurgency and organized criminal networks," the report states. www.catholic.org

Violence in Iraq has reached its worst level since 2008, the U.N. mission to Baghdad has said, reporting that more than 8,800 Iraqis were killed in 2013. − www.theguardian.com HOLLAND

1,000 CATHOLIC CHURCHES TO CLOSE BY 2025 About 1,000 Dutch Catholic churches – around two-thirds of the total in the country – will be shut by 2025, Cardinal Willem Eijk warned Pope Francis at an ad limina visit recently.

The decline will occur as the

Church reorganizes its parishes under the pressure of “drastic secularization” and dwindling congregations and collections.

A sober report by the Netherlands Bishops’ Conference said the Dutch

Church was a shrinking “Church in reorganization” that had to close many lesser-used buildings and merge parishes into larger units to deal with its diminishing resources. Last year, there were 1,593 Catholic churches in Holland, a 10% decline from 2004. This trend is set to accelerate. “We predict that a third of these Catholic churches in our country will be closed by 2020 and two-thirds by 2025,” said Cardinal Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht and head of the Bishops’ Conference.

The bishops delivered a report to the Vatican saying the percentage of Catholics in the Dutch population had dropped from 28.4% to 24.1% since 2004, the date of the last ad limina

visit. Eijk told Vatican Radio that government estimates put the total at only 16% dropping to 10% by 2020. Regular Mass attendance has fallen from 7.8% of all Catholics in 2004 to 5.6% last year; baptisms are down from 17.8% to 11% of all births and church weddings have fallen from 9.1% to 4% of all weddings in the Netherlands. The number of working priests has dropped by a quarter in eight years – from 999 in 2004 to 743 last year.

The only bright spot in the Church statistics was a drop this year in the rate of people leaving the Church, probably because of the “Francis effect.” About 7,500 had left by late October, compared to 15,766 for all of 2012. www.thetablet.co.uk

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SOUTH SUDAN

CONFLICT SPREADS IN SPITE OF PEACE TALKS As the conflict in South Sudan continues, aid agencies are struggling to provide assistance to the thousands of people caught up in the violence. As of December 29, an estimated 180,000 people had been driven from their homes by the fighting, 75,000 of whom are seeking shelter in U.N. compounds. “With clashes and mobilization of armed actors ongoing in several parts of the country, civilians continue to be displaced … There are reports of significant concentrations of people displaced in rural areas in Jonglei, Lakes, Warrap, and Unity states,” the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest update.

To date, some 106,000 people – around 60% of those in need - have been reached with some kind of assistance, according to OCHA. Aid agencies say they require an estimated US$209 million between now and March 2014 to respond to the immediate needs: $43 million have so far been received. Food, shelter, water, sanitation, healthcare and protection remain the key needs of the displaced. Of Jonglei State, which has experienced the brunt of the fighting, OCHA said: “Bor, the area sheltering civilians, remains congested. Sanitation is poor and the main priority is to dig additional latrines, improve provision of clean water, and continue to provide emergency healthcare.”

The global children’s charity, Save the Children, has warned that “thousands of others, including children, are likely to have fled to the remote bush or to vast swampy areas where people will likely have no shelter and will be living under trees, will be forced to drink stagnant water, and will have no access to humanitarian support.” Aid agencies have noted that “access to food remains limited for displaced people sheltering in U.N. bases around the country, and there is a need for distribution of basic food and nutrition supplies.

Food needs are particularly pressing in Bor and Bentiu.”

The conflict has left women and children highly vulnerable to abuse. An aid worker, who sought anonymity, said that there are increasing cases of gender-based violence including rape, and some parents have lost track of their children in the congested camps. “It is a bad situation and

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many women are exposed to violence and many are being raped. The ethnic nature of this violence and suspicion among communities has made it extremely dangerous and we have had cases where women are attacked based on their ethnicity,” she said.

Save the Children has warned that thousands of children might have been separated from their parents, “with many surviving on their own in very remote and hard-to-reach areas. Save the Children is highly concerned with their safety and welfare, many of whom have witnessed their parents being killed and their homes looted or destroyed.” The international community has engaged gears to try and end the violence in the world’s youngest nation. President Kiir has said he is ready for a ceasefire and negotiations, but Machar – who is in hiding – had previously insisted on the release of arrested allies before committing to any truce.

The U.N. Security Council has authorized the near doubling of peacekeepers

in the country – from 7,000 to 12,500.

Already, the first two police units have arrived, while U.N. Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous said he hoped “all peacekeeping reinforcements will be on the ground within one to three weeks.”

The U.N. is backing IGAD’s mediation efforts. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke with Kiir by phone, welcoming his declared commitment to dialogue and encouraging him to “consider the early release of political prisoners.” According to a U.N. news report, he also stressed the need “to hold accountable those responsible for attacks on civilians.” www.irinnews.org

C.A.R.

GREAT VIOLENCE AMID THREAT OF GENOCIDE A year of violence threatening the stability of the Central African Republic (C.A.R.) has escalated recently, leaving more than one million people in need amid calls for foreign aid and warnings of the potential for genocide. “In the capital Bangui, there has been shooting on the streets and people hacked to death with machetes,” said Renee Lambert, Catholic Relief Service's country manager in the Central African Republic.

“Tens of thousands of people are camped out at makeshift (internally displaced person) camps

throughout the city or sheltering with host families, hoping that the arriving French troops can quell the violence.” Lambert said that the “people of C.A.R. have been living in a state of perpetual fear and uncertainty for almost a year now,” and the situation has become “desperate.”

The Central African Republic was engulfed in a war from 2004 to 2007, but violence broke out again in December, 2012. On March 24, Seleka rebels ousted the President and installed their own leader in a coup.

The Seleka have since been officially disbanded, but

its members have not been disarmed, and reports indicate that they are continuing to plunder the country through looting, torture and rape.

Of the country's population of some 4.5M, more than 460,000 have been displaced from their homes by this year's violence, the U.N. estimates. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told television station France 2 that “the country is on the verge of genocide,” as the violence seems to have become increasingly sectarian, pitting Christians and Muslims against each other.

“WHEN WE COME TOGETHER, WITH TENDERNESS, WITH THOSE WHO HAVE NEED OF CARE, WE CARRY THE HOPE AND THE SMILE OF GOD IN CONTRADICTION TO THE WORLD.” – Pope Francis, in his message for the World Day of the Sick, released last Dec. 7.

“Loving someone with autism challenges your concept of what is normal, and it’s such a good thing to challenge what is normal because normal is not right, normal is just the majority.” – Judy Brewer Fischer, “THE STORY TOLD BY MANDELA'S LIFE IS NOT ONE OF INFALLIBLE HUMAN BEINGS AND INEVITABLE TRIUMPH. IT IS THE STORY OF A MAN WHO WAS WILLING TO RISK HIS OWN LIFE FOR WHAT HE BELIEVED IN, AND WHO WORKED HARD TO LEAD THE KIND OF LIFE THAT WOULD MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE.” – Barack Obama, U.S. President, reacting to the death of Nelson Mandela last December 5. www.theguardian.com

"We implore our leaders to stop looking at immigration reform as simply a politically-charged item of controversy. It should no longer require an act of courage on the part of a legislator to apply the principles of moral ethics, true family values, decency and justice." – Arch. Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio, in a news conference last Nov. 26, addressing the misconceptions concerning undocumented immigrants and their contribution to society in the U.S.

autism advocate and wife of the Former Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Ambassador to the Holy See, Tim Fischer, talking about her life and faith. www.cathnews.com

“The Gospel is preached gently, fraternally, with love.” – Pope Francis addressing his fellow Jesuits during a Euchaistic celebration on the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, last January. www.vaticaninsider.lastmpa.it

“Balancing economic growth and equality with environmental sustainability is not only possible – it is essential.” – Erik Solheim, Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee and Former Minister of the Environment and International Development in Norway. www.theguardian.com

“The people of C.A.R. need our help,” stressed Lambert.

“We cannot turn away from what is happening here – it cannot be ignored … if we stand aside and watch, we will never forgive ourselves.”

Both France and the African Union have increased the presence of their forces in the nation, in an effort to contain the violence. France has

deployed 1,600 soldiers to the Central African Republic, and the African Union is increasing the size of its force in the country from 2,500 to 6,000.

Abbot Dieu-Béni Mbanga, who is chancellor of the Bangui archdiocese, explained in letters that violence erupted in earnest in the capital. “Some residents caught between warring parties stayed holed up at home; others

found refuge in churches and with religious communities.

By mid-morning, the parishes of St. John of Galabadja and Bangui’s Cathedral of Our Lady, The Immaculate had taken in some 1,000 people.”

Four more parishes in the Bangui archdiocese received more than 10,000 additional displaced persons, he reported.

“Church facilities also took in the wounded who have been without medical care until now.”

Last Dec. 7, the bishops of the Central African Republic stated: “We condemn the transgressions committed by both armed factions, the anti-balaka and the ex-Seleka.”

The bishops added that the fighting is not solely divided by religion, explaining that “not

all anti-balaka are Christians and that not all Christians are anti-balaka,” and that “the same is true for ex-Seleka and Muslims.”

The Central African Republic is among the world's poorest countries, with extremely low human development and major human rights abuses; the U.N. has indicated it is in danger of becoming a failed state. More than one million are in urgent need of food aid. It borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, and South Sudan, many of which have experienced dramatic upheavals of their own, in recent years. ww.catholicnewsagency.com/ Carl Bunderson and Michelle Bauman

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HE DIED

A FILIPINO PROPHET by

PHYLLIS ZAGANO**

R

ichard Pulga died five days after Typhoon Haiyan rampaged across t he fragile land called the Philippines. In another time, another place, the healthy 27-year-old would still be alive.

Richard Pulga is a prophet. You can say all you want about climate change and greed and poverty. But the life and death of this Filipino farmer gives strongest evidence of the three.

If you've turned a deaf ear to climate change, turn around and listen out. The greenhouse effect they talk about is real. The sun shines away and heats the earth – more when the sky is clear, but even when it is not. The fuels we use make smoke and smog that wrap a blanket around the earth.

It keeps the heat from going out to space. The world is getting hotter.

Greed comes to every human heart in one way or another. No matter what, we want more: more money, more food, more space, more time, and more power, even as none of these fills our needs. We grasp at each and hold on tenaciously, unable to share the penny or the piece of bread.

We want room to move around. We want leisure. And we want control.

But more, for the almighty "me," can

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mean less for somebody else, immediately or eventually.

So poverty crouches at every turn of life, waiting for the smallest opening to set its teeth into the private cycle of birth and death. It grabs on something – a hand, a mind, a back, a leg – and it does not let go. When it comes to us, we may not see it coming. When it comes to someone else, we may not notice.

So with Richard Pulga, who sent his wife and children on to safer ground as wind and water threatened all he had: rice fields on 2 acres, some coconut trees and a little house. He stayed there as the tempest wound its gnarled hand around a coconut and hurled it at his leg.

The storm left. They patched him up and got him to a hospital. He lay there on a metal gurney in the hall, awaiting help. He got the most attention from The New York Times.

You know the rest of the story. It circled the globe like a moon reflecting poverty, greed and climate change back on all of us. Pulga got nothing but a saline drip for five days. They did not clean his wound, an infected bleeding compound fracture of the lower leg that slowly drove his body into septic shock.

Pulga died, with his wife weeping that she wanted to bring him home, a home that is gone. He died because, at the first hospital, they told his aunt who had no money she should just take him away. He died because they could not save him at the next hospital, the one where they cut off this strong man's leg.

He died with doctors saying he did not have to die, that his death could have been prevented. What is this simple prophet telling us?

The Philippines' 7,107 islands float in the Pacific Ring of Fire, where typhoons often come. There, 98M people's lives mirror the f lora and fauna. Some are rich, very rich. Some are simple. Some are more than poor.

No matter, rich or poor, the storm took no prisoners as it washed away buildings, dreams and families. The numbers tell only part of the story. In a small town, they buried 27 members of one family alone.

Yes, world governments have sent ships and planes and helicopters. Yes, their navies and armies are dropping water, food and medicine.

But where are the voices of reason?

Where are the voices that blame air pollution caused by cheaper means of making heat or steel? Where are the voices that blame the faster cars that let more people with more money ride alone? Where are the voices that blame concentrations of power that favor themselves?

Unlike the prophet Jeremiah, Richard Pulga did not need to bury a linen belt to learn that everything is fragile.

He did not need to smash a clay jar to convince us that things are passing.

Yet like his brother Jeremiah, he has taught us more than we want to know about our individual and our corporate weaknesses. Can we learn? Will we? * Nov. 20, 2013, Just Catholic, NCR **Phyllis Zagano is senior research associatein-residence at Hofstra University and author of several books in Catholic studies.

F R O N T I E R S

www.philstar.com

THE HUMAN FACE OF PHILIPPINE POVERTY by

FR. SHAY CULLEN, SSC | PREDA FOUNDATION

R

eggie is the human face of poverty in the Philippines.

He and his family lived on the edge of total poverty until typhoon Haiyan pushed him and his family into absolute poverty this November, 2013. He is a 17 year-old jobless youth whose home was taken away by the 245 kilometer per hour wind. Then his dignity was taken away by human traffickers who forced him and six other youth from Cebu into unpaid labor on a fishing boat and then abandoned them hungry and unpaid.

Then he sunk into even greater poverty when his freedom and human rights were taken from him by the authorities when they jailed him for being a vagrant. He was rescued from illegal imprisonment recently.

But the one image that haunts me is that of Edgar, one of the poorest of the poor and typical of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos: a street boy, skinny, emaciated, skeletal, the human no one wants to look at. He was found wounded on the street.

He had in his possession one pair of shorts to cover his otherwise naked body. He had nothing else in this world. A reality so shocking where the obese are more numerous than the 1.2

B poor that live on less that U.S.$2 a day. The Philippines with its towering condominiums, wealth and opulence of the ruling elite is the poorest nation of Asia for its population size. It is one country that has not made progress in reducing poverty, unlike other Asian countries, despite economic growth.

There are 29M Filipinos living below the poverty line based on figures released by the government statistics office. The population is more or less 105M and 27.9%, in 2013, are living below the poverty line. This is almost the same as it was four to seven years ago. Walden Bello, in his writing, Afterthoughts, says that the rest of the world has made great improvement since 2005 to 2008 in reducing poverty as the World Bank declared: "The progress is so drastic that the world has met the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals to cut extreme poverty in half, five years before its 2015 deadline."

The Philippines has not made any such strides and the roots of poverty are found in the concentration of economic and fiscal power in the hands of a few powerful families. Debt is a tool of control. Getting poor countries into debt was a deliberate policy by

rich nations to have economic and political inf luence over developing nations by ensnaring them in webs of foreign debt administered by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The worldwide campaign to cancel debt succeeded in exposing this tactic and nations refused to pay or had it restructured and changed economic policy for one that gave real freedom and growth that favored the poor. But the Philippine elite, forever subservient, made debt servicing their obedient obligation. This slavery to the debt masters consumes as much as 25% of the national budget leaving little for other investments in infrastructure and rural development .

T he Philippine gover nment and their backers are clinging to an economic ideology that allows multinationals to exploit the economy and natural resources and makes them all richer and the rest of the nation poorer. The Philippine Congress passed mining laws, for example, that gave the international mining corporations unprecedented privileges that many claim are unconstitutional. They destroy the environment with open pit excavations, cut forests causing landslides and disasters and entire villages and communities are uprooted and driven into poverty. The poor are driven from the impoverished countryside to urban slums where their children, some as young as 13 years-old, end up in the sex trade exploited by local and foreign sex tourists with government leaders allowing it and profiting from the outrage.

Poverty is allowed to grow by the greed of the dynastic families that hold a monopoly of political power backed by the military. The Philippines will remain among the most backward and poorest of nations unless there is a dedicated pro-poor government in power and that is not likely in the foreseeable future.

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FILIPINO FOCUS • LOVE AND CARE

Seeing angels in special children

When Sr. Mary Varguese, a nun who used to work with special children in India, arrived in the Philippines to take care of a center of mentally-challenged persons, the conditions were so bad that she was “completely shocked.”

However, after some years of hard work, the situation has greatly improved. Says another nun of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Anne who deals with the center’s children: “When you see God in them, everything becomes easy. They are angels because they don’t have malice.” by

W

hen Sr. Mary Varguese of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Anne was sent to the Philippines in 1994 to work at a governmentrun center for mentally-affected persons, the Indian nun did not foresee the kind of challenge she would get into.

A professional special education (SpEd) teacher in India, Sr. Mary was sent to Elsie Gaches Village (EGV) in Alabang, Muntinlupa City to do missionary work. Teaching mentally-challenged persons is Sr. Mary’s cup of tea and dealing with special children has been involuntary for her like breathing – until she arrived at EGV. Sr. Mary said she was “completely shocked” when the EGV then appeared to her more like a prison than a center for mentally-challenged persons like their Congregation’s school for special children where she had worked for back in India.

“They were all locked up in a room with grills from ceiling down to the f loor. They were like prisoners who are acting very wild and not behaving properly. Nobody were calling them by their names but bulag (blind), negra (black), unggoy (monkey), or baboy (pig),” she shared.

Sr. Mary recalled that the condition of EGV patients could not compare with her students in India whose

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KRIS BAYOS | JOURNALIST

clothes, food, medicines, and needs were well provided for by their families and the Congregation.

“When I first came in here at EGV, I was completely shocked because it is very different here. There are no wheelchairs; the children are smelly and infected with scabies. Most of them were naked and had none but lampin (dirt cloth) to wipe their faces with,” she said.

“I just could not swallow it. I was used to being provided with everything in India but it wasn’t the case here because the children are all abandoned.

They have absolutely nothing and nobody to begin with,” she said.

Although it took Sr. Mary six grueling months to adjust to her new environment at the EGV, she nevertheless found her “very challenging” mission to be worth all of her effort for the past 18 years.

“This work is definitely hard but I love it. I have learned to love these children who I saw growing right before my very eyes. They may not have anybody in their lives but I am here for them,” she said.

‘A GREAT IMPROVEMENT’

Sr. Mary has witnessed how the EGV developed as an institution and a community since the Sisters of Charity of Saint Anne partnered with government

social workers to care for the mentallychallenged persons at the center. She was one of the first nuns from the Sisters of Charity of Saint Anne who came to the EGV in 1994. “The situation then was very bad, but EGV now has improved a lot,” she said.

From a 16-hectare residential compound that was donated to government

by American philanthropist Samuel and Elsie McCloskey Gaches in 1964, the EGV now is a well-maintained center that cares for the sick, abandoned, orphaned and neglected mentally-challenged Filipinos housed in 14 cottages.

Since the Sisters of Charity of Saint Anne got involved in the EGV, individuals and corporations have started pouring in donations to support the operation of the center and the needs of the growing number of patients. The center has patients as young as five and as old as 79.

According to Elizabeth Panambo, the head social worker at the EGV, the Sisters of Charity of Saint Anne were not only giving professional nursing care and special education to their clients, but were also instrumental in helping raise funds for the center’s operation.

The nuns’ help in inviting donors to the EGV is very vital since the EGV spends at least P79 per meal for each of its 602 clients, apart from a minimum

of P10,000 spent daily for the medicines of the ill ones. This is apart from the cost of operating and maintaining the center, paying for its 186 personnel and spending for the rest of the needs of the patients like clothing and hygiene.

Sr. Savita Parmar, who’s in charge of dealing with benefactors, said that getting support from local and foreign donors has been smooth-sailing. In fact, a group called “Friends of EGV” has been established among consistent supporters of the center.

“If you are directly asking them for donation, it is difficult. But not if you invite them and take them around and present the situation and needs of the children, they will understand. Whatever they donate, you use for the particular need you asked for and furnish them with receipts and pictures. Normally, they believe us,” she said.

Sr. Savita said the religious involvement in the EGV has increased confidence of private and corporate donors that their donations will be spent on the intended purpose.

“Donors admittedly have negative notions of the government. But our experience here at EGV proves that our involvement here made people believe that all funds go to the same purpose of beautifying the lives of the special children,” she said.

Mrs. Panambo, for her part, said the

EGV is a successful model of a private, public and religious partnership since the government, the Congregation and the private sector complement each other towards a common purpose.

“This is where you see the government runs the facility while the religious community helps out to reach private individuals who have the money but cannot operate a center like EGV. Private individuals and corporate donors support the government to continue running the EGV,” she said.

‘THEY ARE ANGELS’

Maintaining a 16-hectare compound, running a center caring for 602 clients, and managing a staff of 186 would be a tough task for any government official specially when done under a measly budget but Mrs. Panambo said seeing their patients “happy and content” with the services is the best affirmation she gets in her job. “Seeing them happy and smiling, and content with our services is the greatest achievement for us here at EGV,” she said.

Meanwhile, Sr. Savita admitted that the nuns’ work at EGV is hard but claimed that working for the special children has its own rewards. “When you see God in these children, everything becomes easy. They don’t have demands like normal people, they don’t complain and are always appreciative of

what is given to them. They are angels because they don’t have malice and are very satisfied people,” she said.

Sr. Savita said the nuns also take pride in seeing the special children grow healthy, athletic, competitive and functional. “Deaths are few recently compared to the previous years and the children are active in sports. They even compete in special olympics that are organized outside EGV,” she said.

Sr. Savita added that they bring in nuns who are professional nurses and Special Education teachers to work at the EGV to give dignity to the otherwise neglected part of the society.

“Even if they are in this kind of situation, we want to bring them up, lift their standard of living through therapy and education so that they would not remain as is,” she said.

Inspired with the biblical verse “whatever you do for one of the least of your brothers, you do it for Me,” the nuns said they will continue to work at the EGV to care for the mentally-challenged Filipinos.

“These special children bring the message of God to us that He still loves the world because many people are getting involved and helping us in our work. It also reminds us that we are only an instrument of God for these children,” Sr. Savita said.

For her part, Sr. Mary said what consoles her is the belief that “the reward for this work is only attained in heaven,” adding that she would love to stay and work at EGV unless she is assigned to a different work by the Congregation.

“It will be really painful for me to leave EGV but what can I do? We are not fixed anywhere. Where the Congregation sends us is where we will be and we just prepare ourselves,” the nun said, with tears forming at the corner of her eyes.

To know more about the Elsie Gaches Village, write or call Mrs. Elizabeth Panambo, head social worker, EGV, Alabang Zapote Road, Muntinlupa City. Telefax N. 02-8076023, Email address: egv_ncr@yahoo.com

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WM SPECIAL • FEAR AND RELIGION

To use the emotion of fear is contrary to the teaching and spirit of Jesus.

Any attempt to induce fear must be roundly rejected. The primacy of love must be the context to motivate members.

It is a call not to act on an emotion but to will to love. by

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H

ow many persons would work on eliminating or controlling a fear a year? We are plagued with fears, phobias. As botanists have sought to give a name to every living plant, a unique researcher has identified 530 phobias (there is even a fear of fear phobia) and continues to expand the list as he discovers new ones.

One woman serious about taking control of her fears, created a tick list to deal with a fear a year. In a film, she identified her fear for a particular year – fear of heights. To overcome this, she decided to take up skydiving in her fifties. While filming her training, she uninhibitedly exposed her raw feelings and agitation throughout the training ordeal. Finally, a day came for her first jump and she was still sweating. But she jumped – successfully! Rather than resting on her laurels, she was already deciding on what the fear she would meet head on next.

It is important to keep in mind that fear is an emotion. Love, however, is an act of the will. In the West, the ancient Greeks are credited with distinguishing emotion and reason. Emotions were viewed as the ‘loose canon’ in human behavior. Reason was superior and more predictable than emotions. They realized one couldn’t eliminate emotions altogether as they are an essential dimension of human behavior. The individual, in a manner of speaking, is alone on a bicycle built for two, emotion and reason. The challenge to the individual is to keep pedaling the two in a healthy tandem. No easy trick. As the playwright Paddy Chefvsky noted: “Passion is a balky beast; it rides the rider.” The amygdala in the brain has been identified as triggering our emotional reactions. When emotions dominate, the bicycle careens, toppling the rider. If reason loses to emotions, there can be catastrophic problems.

Psychologists identify exposure therapy as a means of controlling our emotions. The woman cited earlier had her own exposure therapy program to control, if not overcome, her fears. She

Often, people confuse love as a feeling... Love is an act of the will.

We can have loving feelings but that is not essentially love... we may more often not have any loving feelings but simply forcefully exercise our will to love and not take revenge. succeeded because she worked at it.

Unfortunately, too many persons feed their fears and, as a result, become victims of their own fears.

Often, people confuse love as a feeling. The great contribution of the Marriage Encounter Movement was to underscore love as an act of the will.

We can have loving feelings but that is not essentially love. Love, as an act of the will, can be understood when we do something and yet have no loving feelings, and even contrary ones. A parent in disciplining a child may say, “It hurts me more than you.” A parent may not wish to discipline a child but wills to do so out of concern for the child’s development. A parent who wants to ‘feel good’ may choose not to discipline the child, concerned more about one’s self than the other. So when Jesus says, “Love your enemies,” we may more often not have any loving feelings but simply forcefully exercise our will to love and not take revenge.

JESUS ON LOVE AND FEAR

The last will and testament to His disciples at the Last Supper was, “A new commandment I give you – love one another.” In the course of His ministry, He

revealed the depth of the challenge to love by disputing common acceptance of love: “If you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Even tax collectors and sinners love those who love them. In other words, He doesn’t have in mind a mutual admiration society.

Ultimately, He makes love of the enemy inclusive. To do such is to overcome our negative emotions of hating those not like ourselves or those we consider despicable and towards whom we harbor negative feelings.

In the process of challenging His disciples to love even the unlovable, He questions why His disciples are fearful and exhorts them to “be not afraid.”

Fear is an emotion and can be overcome by willing to love. The Letter of John underscores this new teaching of Jesus: “Perfect love casts out fear.” Clearly, Jesus underscores the triumph of will over emotion.

In the Jewish Scriptures, the word ‘fear’ is used about 270 times, and about 70 times in the Christian Scriptures which are much shorter than the former. To my awareness, there is no challenging of fear in the Jewish Scriptures but reinforcing it. But Jesus questions rather than inculcates fear, “Why

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are you afraid?” He touches upon fear as primal in the person. Fear perhaps is the unconscious response to a world in which people lived in dread and fear for their life and environment. Understandably, ancient people saw elements of nature, such as thunder, something to be afraid of. Jesus challenges us to move beyond the primal. A story is told of an Alaskan shaman who was questioned about his tribe’s belief system.

After repeated probing, the shaman replied, “Look, we don’t believe. We fear.”

To overcome fear, Jesus proposed faith - the ability to imagine otherwise. Faith frees one from being a victim to being an agent, a subject of events and not a victim of them.

“Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom,” proclaims the Book of Proverbs, promoting this approach to God. Fear here means ‘dread’ not awe as the translation has been softened by some.

The Hebrew root word is yare (dread).

Fear becomes incompatible, however, with Jesus’ emphasis on loving God with all one’s heart, mind and self. Fearing God would be incompatible to His preaching of “be not afraid” even of God. In Jesus’ tradition, there is a break from the stranglehold on the person to be under the vise of fear with the encouragement to the person to act willfully. Love is a verb for Jesus, not a noun.

This is a significant breakthrough in human consciousness.

The Christian Scriptures are not a complete break, however, from the Jewish tradition but a carryover of many negative concepts from it. The challenge is to separate the old wine from the new. While fearful components remain in the Christian Scriptures, like hell and devils, they are to be trumped by the insistence of Jesus’ new teaching of love. Love takes priority and is the new wine offered by Jesus.

Fear is often used as a means to enforce people to do the right thing or pay the penalty. But modern psychology has been able to demonstrate that fear is not effective in doing so. To be motivated by love is a higher act of con-

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sciousness for a person to respond to life’s challenges than fear.

FEAR IS COUNTERPRODUCTIVE

Fear is less productive. A program “Scared Straight” was designed to teach adolescents to avoid going to prison by exposing them, scaring them to the raw horror of prison life. The program backfired as more young persons exposed to it were more likely to be criminals than young persons in another control group who were not scared. The first word Paul uses to describe love is ‘patient.’

Fear may achieve immediate results but love has more positive long-term effects. Some parents enforce fearful punishments on their children in order to get them to immediately comply to their wishes. The fear of punishment achieves immediate compliance but, in the long-term, leads to alienation of children from parents. “Fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love” (1Jn. 4:18).

Mahatma Ghandi stated: “Where there is fear, there is no religion.” But religions, and other institutions, have sought to create fear in order to manipulate members. In Judaism, Yahweh is constantly depicted as an avenging God. According to the prophet Nahum: “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on His foes and vents His wrath against His enemies.”

But this God will not even let the Israelites free of His wrath. “So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And He sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies” (Judges 2:14).

And this was a milder form of punishment Yahweh promised the wayward Israelites. He had worse things in store for them if they disobeyed as found repeatedly in the Jewish Scriptures. The

WM SPECIAL • FEAR AND RELIGION emphasis of Jesus on love is a departure from the tradition in which He was raised. Yet many Christians still seek a God who takes revenge than reconciles with those who are not faithful.

In Islam, which was inf luenced by Judaism, fear of God is reinforced, “It is only Satan that suggests to you the fear of his votaries: Be not afraid of them, but fear Me (Allah); if you have faith...fear not men, but fear Me.” (Koran 3:175) Mohamed Atta, one of the 9/11 hijackers, in his last will and testament warned everyone to fear God. He took to heart Allah’s admonition. Islam often resorts to public physical violence like beheading for transgressions it deems immoral. Again, the fear of punishment is viewed as an incentive to behave but is not a fail-safe deterrent.

 FEARLESS IN LOVE. The whole secret of existence is to have no fear and live in love.

Unfortunately, in the Catholic tradition, there have been attempts to make fear dominant rather than the primacy of love which is the heart of the teaching of Jesus. The Dictionary of Catholic Theology is an example which made fear dominant.

THE HINDU AND BUDDHIST EXCEPTIONS

The world’s oldest religion, Hinduism, rather than instilling fear, seeks to liberate people from the clutches

of fear. Its view of the divine and creatures is not one of a servant or slave on suppliant knees but rather being like a child on the lap of God. Hence, words like ‘fear of God,’ ‘sin,’ ‘punishment,’ ‘judgment’ and ‘commandments’ are foreign to Hinduism. The fear of death in Hinduism teaches reassuringly that one will reincarnate into another physical body.

While Christianity and Islam were affected by Judaism, Buddhism was

by Hinduism. Rather than reinforcing concepts of punishment and fear, it sought means to enable followers to overcome fear and its offshoots. For Buddha, suffering was the root of fear.

He sought to exorcise fear and thus reduce human suffering. “The whole secret of existence is to have no fear.”

Or as Franklin Roosevelt said centuries later: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

A FORM OF MANIPULATION

Because fear is universal, those in position of authority often use fear to manipulate and control people. The classic example is the medieval political strategist, Machiavelli, who wrote: “Upon this, a question arises: whether it be better to be

loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved when, of the two, either must be dispensed with … but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.”

George W. Bush effectively used fear to scare Americans into supporting his war on terror, invading Afghanistan and Iraq. The terrorist became the bogeyman of the American public which, in turn, acquiesced to Bush, providing him carte blanche of the monies and policies to beat the bogeyman “over there” rather than “right here.” Bush was no dummy, aware of that deep well of fear underpinning our American insecurity. He essentially paraphrased Roosevelt, with a stomach-churning twist: "The only thing we have is fear itself."

Unfortunately, in the Catholic tradition, there have been attempts to make fear dominant rather than the primacy of love which is the heart of the teaching of Jesus. The Dictionary of Catholic Theology is an example which made fear dominant. “From a pastoral point of view, one must ask whether it is useful to preach on hell in our day, and

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WM SPECIAL • FEAR AND RELIGION

 PRIMACY OF LOVE. Perfection in love casts off fear for fear and love aren't compatible.

At a tender age, children cannot process concepts of hell, devils, eternal punishment, sin, etc. These are not subjects about which children normally initiate questions. They are difficult concepts for adults to process. And to force them on children is spiritual abuse. human wisdom tends to respond, no.

True traditional wisdom has thought otherwise. Certainly, it is always better to come to Jesus because of love, but fear is capable of leading to love, even fear of hell. It is necessary to temper that fear with love, but it is also necessary to engender love of God through fear of chastisements, and to avoid sin by the thought of the divine sanction, i.e., hell. Fear is just as necessary today as it was of old, because human nature is always basically the same.”

This would more accurately reflect the Jewish Scriptures than Jesus break-

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ing new ground with the primacy of love. The citation is a rejection of the teaching of 1 John that “perfect love casts out fear.” Fear and love are not compatible. Fear with love can’t be tempered. Love casts out fear. It is either or.

SPIRITUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN

To focus on the primacy of love, particularly in young children, is vital for their mature spiritual development. Sadly, too much emphasis had been making children fearful at too early an age. This is tantamount to child spiritual abuse.

We are aware today of how many lives

have been destroyed by the sexual abuse of children. There has been too little focus on the spiritual abuse of children.

And what happens at an early age takes a life-time to uproot, if ever.

The philosopher/theologian Soren Kierkegaard noted, in the eighteenth century, that a wrong perspective from youth can lead to a life of distortion.

Jesus focused on the conversion of adults to the Kingdom of God with the primacy of His new commandment, “Love one another.” Love is to be the starting point as well as the ending point. But when children are overcome by fear at an early age, rather than the concept of love dominating, they are spiritually abused.

A father shared a true life event about his daugher. Father and daughter were preparing supper. He noticed how his little daughter Ruth, eight years old, seemed disturbed. Finally, when he saw tears streaming down her cheeks, he asked her what was upsetting her. “Oh Daddy, I’m scared I am going to hell!” That day she had been introduced to hell by her religion teacher. What the teacher told her frightened her inconsolably.

At a tender age, children cannot process concepts of hell, devils, eternal punishment, sin, etc. These are not subjects about which children normally initiate questions. They are difficult concepts for adults to process. And to force them on children is spiritual abuse. “Let the children come to Me.” One cannot fathom Jesus taking children on His lap to tell them horror stories. There has been too much exposure of little ones whereby fear is inf licted unnecessarily upon them.

A friend shared a real life experience as a child growing up in the west of Ireland.

“Every year, we had a mission in the parish. We did not have electricity, so a few oil lamps were spaced throughout the church. They cast weird shadows all over the place, a perfect setting for Fr. missioner to scare the living daylights out of us – with his descriptions of the

unending everlasting fires of hell, for all eternity, world without end, and all – for one bad thought about sex. The thoughts came in battalions so the only hope was surrender. Leaving the church, we had to hold hands, because we could not see anything except the impression of those dancing flames on our inner minds.”

Institutions have resorted to fear in order to make people conform to their agendas. The church is an institution not immune from members who fall short of the Jesus’ challenges. Jesus said to Peter who is a symbol for the church as an institution: “Get behind me, you Satan, for you are a stumbling block.” The church, as an institution, has been a stumbling block particularly when it uses fear to manipulate behavior rather than as a patient parent willing to love otherwise.

As the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us: “Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus who is the source of our inspiration and who will perfect our faith.” We are to be focused on this Jesus who chided His disciples, “Why are you afraid?” and enjoined them to “be not afraid.”

A SECOND FIRE

To use the emotion of fear is contrary to the teaching and spirit of Jesus. Any attempt to induce fear must be roundly rejected. The primacy of love must be the context to motivate members. It is a call not to act on an emotion but to will to love. Teilhard de Chardin wrote: “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity, we will harness for God the energies of love and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”

To use the emotion of fear is contrary to the teaching and spirit of Jesus. Any attempt to induce fear must be roundly rejected.

The primacy of love must be the context to motivate members.

It is a call not to act on an emotion but to will to love.

Chardin is ref lective of Jesus’ intent: “I have come to cast fire upon the earth and would that it were enkindled.” This is the fire, the power of love, which will transform the world.

We know too well the effects of fear which has led to endless violence upon the planet. We have yet to experience fully the power of love to transform and reconcile. We know it, though, in the singular powerful examples when persons choose to will to love even the enemy, to reject revenge and seek reconciliation. We saw it in South Africa after apartheid, when black people did not engage in wholesale revenge but set up a Truth and Justice Reconciliation Commission to heal the past injustices. In willing to love, the possibilities are infinite.

The church, as an institution, must be primarily the school of love. For it to be fully realized, there must be the exorcism of fear. If the teaching that perfect love casts out fear, as proposed in 1 John, then let us love, as an act of the will, to cast out our own fear.

 NEW FIRE. The burning bush revealed to Moses the loving desire of God to set His people free. Let the fire of love burn within us.

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WM SPECIAL • FEAR AND RELIGION

FORGIVENESS IS THE ULTIMATE ANSWER God shows us that we too must first love others.

When we achieve this stage of the Christian life, we have graduated. We need, first, to apply that love is the answer before expecting others to do the same.

And forgiveness is a straight path to unconditional love. by

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FR. EMMET T COYNE | CONTRIBUTOR

C

hristianity is perceived as promoting the primacy of love, despite its failure often to live up to that reality. The last will and testament of Jesus was that His disciples love one another. And that love was not exclusive, simply loving one’s own. Jesus taught an inclusive love, to include even loving one’s enemies. But Christianity is also perceived as not practicing what it preaches. Consistency of theory and practice is a continual challenge.

In a cartoon strip, “The Wizard of Id,” the court preacher is proclaiming to the congregation. In one frame he says, “Love One Another”; in another, “Love Is the Answer, in another, “Love Makes the World Go Round,” and he continues spouting love slogans. In the last frame, he is standing outside greeting the people, with a fake Cheshire-like cat smile, saying to himself: “This is the part I hate!” It’s easy to talk or preach about love, but hard to practice it.

There was a popular song entitled, “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.”

This is an apt description of love as a multitude of concepts in one word: forgiveness, reconciliation, mercy, justice, nonviolence, compassion. In a scientific analogy, love is the genus, and these components are the species. Each is interconnected and related.

Laws have limitations. They cannot make us love one another. As Martin Luther King put it: “The law cannot make a man love me but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.” The primary teaching role of the church is to fulfill the central teaching on love. It should be the mentor to go beyond the limitations of laws, to teach the imperative to love one another through forgiveness, reconciliation, mercy, justice, nonviolence, compassion. Love wills us to overcome our emotions and feelings, and even the limitation of reason. Love is unreasonable as it reaches beyond what is reasonable, yet possible. Why would Jesus urge His disciple to fulfill the command to love if He felt it was outside the realm of human possibility? He demonstrated in

Love is unreasonable as it reaches beyond what is reasonable, yet possible. Why would Jesus urge His disciple to fulfill the command to love if He felt it was outside the realm of human possibility?

He demonstrated in His death the seemingly impossible.

His death the seemingly impossible. We might readily grasp the ideal word of love but we fail to follow through real deeds with love. “Love, not in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” That’s the rub!

Gandhi once said: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians.

They are so unlike your Christ.” In a book by Philip Yancey, he relates an incident between Gandhi, a Hindu, and Reverend Andrews, a Presbyterian missionary in South Africa. “The two suddenly find their way blocked by young thugs. Reverend Andrews takes one look at the menacing gangsters and decides to run for it. Gandhi stops him.

‘Doesn’t the New Testament say, if an enemy strikes you on the right cheek you should offer him the left?’ Andrews mumbles that he thought the phrase was used metaphorically. ‘I’m not so sure,’ Gandhi replies. ‘I suspect He meant you must show courage – be willing to take a blow, several blows, to show you will not strike back nor will you be turned aside. And when you do that, it calls for something in human nature,

something that makes his hatred decrease and his respect increase. I think Christ grasped that and I have seen it work.’” Gandhi was imbued with Jesus’ teaching, particularly the Sermon on the Mount. It is said that he wanted to become a Christian and appeared at a church one Sunday morning, only to be told he had to go to a ‘colored’ church!

Gandhi would return to India and, subsequently, take the non-violent teaching of the Sermon on the Mount as the means to effectively rid India of the British colonizers without a war.

Centuries before, the American colonies wanted to be free of their British colonizers, yet, unlike Gandhi’s nonviolence approach, resorted to a bloody war to expel the British.

Chesterton claimed that Christianity hasn’t failed, rather it hasn’t been tried. Chesterton might well concur with Gandhi that the practice of nonviolence underscores that love is the answer. Non-violence is an aspect of love. Jesus’ dying words, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they

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do,’ breaks the historical chain whereby people had traditionally sought to take revenge upon the death of another. It is this deed that will make real the words, “Love your enemies.”

Vengeance, retaliation, retribution, payback, etc. were common means of settling scores. “An eye for an eye” was actually an evolution in revenge.

It was proportional revenge. Prior to this Mosaic teaching, revenge was disproportionate, taking down as many as possible. Jesus’ teaching evolves even further: “You have heard it said, an eye for an eye...but I say to you, do not resist one who is evil…you have heard it said, hate your enemy but I say to you love your enemy. “ The fifth chapter of Matthew challenges us to act in a new way and this new way is humanly possible.

Vendettas or “blood feuds” have historically been a way of responding in many tribes throughout the world.

Blood feuds still continue in some parts of the world. “Vigilante justice” still exists when people, often a mob, will take it upon themselves to swiftly retaliate against an act of violence. Fortunately, “vigilante justice” is on the wane as laws become a vehicle to enforce truer justice. But laws themselves are continually going through an evolution. Not all laws have been proportional to the crime, and hence, laws need to continualy evolve till true justice is attained.

Some would argue that capital punishment is a civilized form of proportional revenge. Overwhelmingly, capital punishment is increasingly banned throughout the world. Of the 195 member states of the UN, 51% abolished capital punishment, 4% allow it for crimes in exceptional circumstances, 25% permit it for ordinary crimes, 20% allow it. This has been a remarkable evolution in fifty years.

THE CHALLENGE TO RESIST REVENGE

When a loved one is killed, emotionally many persons want instinctual revenge. This is understandable. For instincts are emotions, and as indicated in the previous article on "Fear and

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Love is an act of the will. It is refreshing to note how many persons overcome their instincts and emotions to make an act of the will not to seek the death of another.

Forgiveness is concrete love, the here and now.

Religion," the need to control our emotions and instincts is the challenge, and to let reason act otherwise. Love is an act of the will. It is refreshing to note how many persons overcome their instincts and emotions to make an act of the will not to seek the death of another. Forgiveness is concrete love, the here and now. The media seems to focus more on the horrific acts of murder and often provide less coverage of acts of forgiving love.

In Texas, a 16-year old engineered the death of her mother, father and two younger brothers because her parents had forbidden her to date her boyfriend. The father survived and, subsequently, forgave his daughter and her three accomplices.

The father of a young victim at the Sandy Hook school massacre in Connecticut, despite the murderer being labeled a “monster,” offered the killer’s family his “love and support,” saying “I can’t imagine how hard this experience must be for you.” He, the father of a victim!

A father lost his 20-year old son who was delivering a pizza when a 14-year old thug, part of a gang, shot and killed his son. The father fell into despair, becoming suicidal at one point. Eventually, he approached the killer’s family, offering forgiveness and compassion. He had been an investment banker but his willful act to offer love has changed his work. He has become an international speaker and author of books exploring how the tragedy changed his life to fostering forgiveness. He became an investment banker of love.

Jo Berry was 27 years old when her father, a member of the British Parliament, was killed by an IRA bomb in 1984. Transcending her bitterness and pain, she eventually met the man who murdered her father. They spoke for three hours. The man said to her: “I have never met anyone like you before…

I don’t know what to say. I want to hear your pain.” Over a period of time, they developed a healing friendship and now travel the world, speaking in behalf of The Forgiveness Project.

WM SPECIAL • FEAR AND RELIGION In Northern Ireland, Bernadette Powers, her husband, and their three children were on the way to a Sunday mass. Her husband had worked a late shift as a taxi driver. Bernadette was going to let him sleep but he got up out of bed and said they would go as a unit to the Lord. On their way, a Protestant loyalist appeared, killing her husband, Mickey, and two of her children were wounded. The murderer was never found. She reared her children not to be bitter or vengeful about their father’s murderer. Bernadette speaks to groups on both sides of “the troubles” and how this tragedy brought her out from a personal crucifixion to a public resurrection.

In October 2006, at a one-room schoolhouse of an Amish community in Lancaster, PA, a lone gunman took children hostage, ultimately shooting ten girls and killing five, before he shot himself. The immediate response of the Amish community stunned the world.

According to one source, “a grandfather of one of the murdered Amish girls was heard warning some young relatives

not to hate the killer, saying, ‘We must not think evil of this man’ … A Roberts family (the murderer’s family) spokesperson said an Amish neighbor comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting and extended forgiveness to them. Amish community members comforted Robert’s widow, parents, and parents-in-law. One Amish man held Roberts’ sobbing father in his arms, reportedly for as long as an hour, to comfort him. The Amish have also set up a charitable fund for the family of the shooter. About 30 members of the Amish community attended Roberts’ funeral, and Marie Roberts, the widow of the killer, was one of the outsiders invited to the funeral of one of the victims.

Marie Roberts wrote an open letter to her Amish neighbors thanking them for their forgiveness, grace and mercy.

She wrote: “Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need…Gifts you’ve given have touched our hearts in a way no words can describe. Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community, and is changing our world,

It is hard to fathom their mind-boggling Christian response. It is understandable, though, when one realizes that the central moral teaching that is the focus of their community life is the Sermon on the Mount which spells out the new commandment of love.

for this we sincerely thank you.”

Several important points ought to be noted in this event. The immediacy of the aff licted Amish Christian community to respond to the widow and family of the killer is astounding. Many victims have to first work through their emotions before they can begin to speak and act toward forgiveness.

For some, it can take years, if ever. The Amish community was in the throes of their own bewilderment at this gruesome tragedy which struck their smallknit community. Yet, they dropped everything instantly and embraced the family of the agent of their suffering before the world. Their immediate response, transcending straightway the limitations of reason, broke the sound barrier of reason. Secondly, the admonition of the elders to young members, “we must not think evil of this man,” upends the normal reaction of calling such persons monsters, incarnate evil, etc., and demanding immediately their death. Thirdly, to set up a charitable fund for the family of the shooter is walking the extra mile as Jesus admonished. It is hard to fathom their mind-boggling Christian response. It is understandable, though, when one realizes that the central moral teaching that is the focus of their community life is the Sermon on the Mount which spells out the new commandment of love in specifics.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN EXAMPLE

 HEALING. The Amish community heals the wounds of violence through compassionate love.

Fortunately, these examples are legion.

One can google the subject and retrieve countless accounts of people not seeking revenge but extending a heart of reconciliation. The seeds of the Kingdom teaching Jesus scattered have fallen on fertile ground – persons and groups, even governments are practicing and implementing the incarnation of love at many levels.

In South Africa, the oppressive regime of apartheid held sway whereby about 20% of the white population unjustly dominated the majority colored population with punitive and restrictive

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WM SPECIAL • FEAR AND RELIGION laws and regulations. Nelson Mandela, who fought against the system, was imprisoned for twenty-seven years. (His capacity to forgive his jailers and the white oppressors had a tremendous impact, at national and international levels, as was shown during the week of celebrations and homage that preceded the burial of the country’s first democratic President, last December; he was 95 years old when he died, and was considered the most inspirational global leader of the last decades. Ed. Note).

When apartheid collapsed, the tension was ripe for revenge and retaliation. Cooler heads prevailed and established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to mediate the injustices

among the population, averting a huge blood bath and victor’s justice. The Commission heard from victims of both sides of the long dark days of apartheid. The minimum demand of love is justice. Love cannot gloss over injustice but seeks through justice to effect reconciliation between opposites. This was the success of the Commission.

A striking example of reconciliation came from an unassuming black woman there. “T he Commission brought an elderly black woman face to face with the white man, Mr. Van de Broek, who had confessed to the savage torture and murder of her son and husband a few years earlier: The old woman had been made to witness her husband’s

The Commission heard from victims of both sides of the long dark days of apartheid. The minimum demand of love is justice.

Love cannot gloss over injustice but seeks through justice to effect reconciliation between opposites.

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death; the last words he spoke were: ‘Father, forgive them.’ One of the members of the Commission turned to her and asked, ‘How do you believe justice should be done to this man who has inflicted such suffering on you and so brutally destroyed your family?’ The old woman replied, ‘I want three things. I want first to be taken to the place where my husband’s body was burned so that I can gather up the dust and give his remains a decent burial.’ She stopped, collected herself, and then went on. ‘My husband and son were my only family. I want, secondly, therefore, for Mr. Van de Broek to become my son. I would like for him to come twice a month to the ghetto and spend a day with me. And finally, I want a third thing. I would like Mr. Van de Broek to know that I offer him my forgiveness, because Jesus Christ died to forgive. This was also the wish of my husband. And so, I would kindly ask

someone to come to my side and lead me across the courtroom so that I can take Mr. Van de Broek in my arms, embrace him, and let him know that he is truly forgiven.’ The assistants came to help the old black woman across the room.

Mr. Van de Broek, overwhelmed by what he had just heard, fainted. And as he did, those in the courtroom – friends, neighbors, all victims of decades of oppression and injustice – began to sing ‘Amazing Grace.’”

Approximately 50 versions of the Truth and Justice Commission have sprouted throughout the planet in recent years as a new and more effective way of dealing with injustice. This is truly evolutionary in human consciousness. Who knows where this trajectory will lead the human community? We are on a roll despite the reality that much injustice still exists. The early harvest of love has commenced. We are bringing in the sheaves. Teilhard de Chardin had prophesied: “Someday, after mastering the winds, waves, the tides, and gravity, we shall harvest for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” The flame is increasing.

The new wine of the Kingdom of God’s teaching of Jesus is the primacy of love. Love, mercy, compassion, justice, etc. were already part of the religious tradition of Jesus. He highlighted and singularly made love the primacy in the Kingdom’s teaching, summed up in His last will and testament, “love one another.” He goes out and is nailed to the cross, saying: “Father, forgive them,’ following, in deed, His word.

LOVE TRUMPS SELF-INTEREST

We are driven by self-interest. Even though we try to be subtle and seek not to be obvious, our ego is relentless in asserting one’s self and satisfaction. We tend to use others for our ends. Often, we do this subconsciously, unaware of how manipulative we are. Is it a reflection of our insecurity?

Altruism is another word for selflessness. Many doubt whether true

 SELFLESSNESS. Practicing love, in the likeness of Jesus, helps us to let go of whole self.

The paradox of Jesus is that we find our true self in losing, letting go of the self. The practice of acts of love toward others, in time, enables us to purify our actions, whether they are for the self simply or truly to be in solidarity with others. altruism is possible. Jesus spoke of dying to one’s self. Psychologists might view this as letting go of one’s ego. Insecurity blocks letting go of the self. The practice of love, with its many splendored parts (forgiveness, compassion, mercy, justice, non-violence), can slowly lead us to self lessness – when we grow in consciousness of desiring the well-being of others as equally well as the self. The paradox of Jesus is that we find our true self in losing, letting go of the self. The practice of acts of love toward others, in time, enables us to purify our actions, whether they are simply for the self or to be truly in solidarity with others.

St. Paul, in his hymn to love, emphasizes that love is other-oriented,” it does not seek its own interest.” This is a challenge to a culture in which satisfying the self is the priority, as if this were not always true but, perhaps, more empathic today in a media-driven society.

Jesus is the model who laid down His life for others. There are endless demands to lay down our lives for others,

even without the shedding of blood. As the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, “Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.”

Reflecting on His ways, as our primary meditation, is the grace to let go of self.

St. John of the Cross said that, in the evening of life, we shall be judged on love, reiterating what St. Paul held that despite faith and hope, the greatest of these three is love. If Christianity is to realize its perception as promoting the primacy of love, then it needs to daily challenge disciples to love others not simply for self-interest but for the well-being of the other. A poet wrote: “Though I cannot be loved, let me love.” It seems to underscore not to expect others to love us. We must take the initiative to love others first.

This echoes the Letter of John, “This is love; not that we loved God, but that He first loved us.” God shows us that we too must first love others. When we achieve this stage of the Christian life, we have graduated. We need first to apply that love is the answer before expecting others to do the same.

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WM SPECIAL • FEAR AND RELIGION

LET’S FACE THE MENTAL ILLNESS PANDEMIC

Mental illness, a prevalent and often unbearably painful form of disease, is still silenced and stigmatized, though it affects a big part of the world’s population. We tend to project, to the victims, our deepest fears and superstitions, but it’s time to begin to deal with them. After all, it’s our duty to care for the sick, no matter if the affliction is in the body or in the mind. by

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MANUEL GIR ALDES | JOURNALIST

D

uring the last year, whoever paid attention to newspapers’ comments met a very strange trend.

Breaking a long silence, public figures from various walks of life chose to speak frankly about their own fight with mental illness. In Great Britain, there was a quite well-known actor, entertainer and filmmaker who talked about his almost fatal fight with bipolar disorder.

A member of Parliament wrote about his struggle with crippling depression, that had caused his indefinite absence from the House of Commons debates.

In the U.S., a very popular televangelist spoke openly about his family’s grief and change of mind – they used to believe that prayer was enough to deal with the problem – after the suicide of his young son, a boy who was very much loved, gentle and smart, but didn’t resist the struggle with severe bouts of depression. At the same time, a mother wrote about the exhaustion of dealing daily, for years, with an already adult son who suffers from schizophrenia with psychotic episodes; even if he was conveniently monitored and medicated, in those moments, he was prone to aggressiveness and family life suffered badly. She was not complaining. She just wanted to make people aware that there are also harsh forms of love.

Last January, a quite well-known North-American columnist and author published a book eloquently titled “My Age of Anxiety” where, with the skills of a consummate communicator, he describes the mess that has been his life, in spite of his awards, achievements and a quite rewarding life as a husband and a father. He recognizes that this extreme form of anxiety runs in his family. He cannot forget the descent of his grandfather, a brilliant man, in a nightmarish state of dementia, and acknowledges that a similar fate can be in store for him, in spite of all the prog-

ress made by science since then. Many would ask: Can anxiety be so painful?

After all, everybody feels it now and then. In the natural world, it is even necessary for survival; a low dose helps to keep us alert, as a warning against the dangers that surround us. The same applies to depression. Since the word became fashionable, people got the habit of saying: “Oh, today I feel so depressed!” when they just actually want to say: I feel particularly sad, or down, or exhausted today. But mixing clinical forms of anxiety and/or depression – which often appear together – with just a bad mood is much worse than taking a common cold for a life-threatening form of pneumonia. And the suffering involved is as comparable as to a light breeze and an internal typhoon!

THE BURDEN OF ANXIETY

The uncertainty that dominates the modern world, particularly since the 2007/2008 financial collapse and the great recession that followed, is enough reason to be anxious. In the western world, people are losing not only their jobs, their houses, their pensions, the state social benefits that helped them to face ‘rainy’ days, but also hope for the future – to have a chance to study and to be well treated in public institutions when they grow too old or too ill. In a few years, what people took for granted does not exist anymore, and tomorrow is a big question mark. This lack of a “social safety net’ is in itself a source of anxiety, as people living in very poor or developing countries know so well. But the above mentioned author, Scott Stossel, has the privilege of leading a quite safe and comfortable life. That’s why, not ignoring the general picture, he chose to write about his particular “age of anxiety.”

An excerpt of his eloquent testimony follows: “On ordinary days, doing ordinary things – reading a book, lying

In the western world, people are losing not only their jobs, their houses, their pensions, the state social benefits that helped them to face ‘rainy’ days, but also hope for the future – to have a chance to study and to be well treated when they grow too old or too ill.

in bed, talking on the phone, sitting in a meeting, playing tennis – I have, thousands of times, been stricken by a pervasive sense of existential dread and been beset by nausea, vertigo, shaking, and a panoply of other physical symptoms. In these instances, I have sometimes been convinced that death, or something somehow worse, was imminent. Even when not actively afflicted by such acute episodes, I am buffeted by worry: about my health and my family members' health; about finances; about work; about the rattle in my car and the dripping in my basement; about the encroachment of old age and the inevitability of death; about everything and nothing. At various times, I have developed anxiety-induced difficulties breathing, swallowing, even walking; these difficulties then become obsessions, consuming all of my thinking.

“I also suffer from a number of specific fears or phobias. To name a few: enclosed spaces (claustrophobia); heights (acrophobia); fainting (asthenophobia); being trapped far from home (a species of agoraphobia); germs (bacillophobia); cheese (turophobia); speaking in public (a sub-category of social phobia); flying (aerophobia); vomiting (emetophobia); and, naturally, vomiting on airplanes (aeronausiphobia).”

The reader may ask: Didn’t he have access to an adequate treatment? Yes, he had: “In short, I have been, since the age of about two, a twitchy bundle of phobias, fears and neuroses. And I have tried, since the age of 10, when I was first taken to a mental hospital for evaluation and then referred to a psychiatrist for treatment to overcome my anxiety in various ways. But none of these treatments have fundamentally reduced the underlying anxiety that seems woven into my soul and hardwired into my body and that at times makes my life a misery. As the years passed, the hope of being cured of my anxiety has faded into a resigned desire to come to terms with it, to find some redemptive quality or mitigating benefit to my being, too often, a quivering, quaking, neurotic wreck.”

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LOSING $50 BILLION A YEAR

The author doesn’t ignore the grim reality suffered by those whose families have not been enlightened nor the means to have expensive therapies and medication: “Anxiety and its associated disorders represent the most common form of officially classified mental illness in the United States today, more common even than depression and other mood disorders. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, in some 40 million American adults, about one in six, are suffering from some kind of anxiety disorder at any given time. A study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2006 found that

Americans lose a collective 321M days of work because of anxiety and depression each year, costing the economy $50B annually. In 2012, Americans filled nearly 50M prescriptions for just one anti-anxiety drug: alprazolam, the generic name for Xanax.

It's not just Americans who suffer from it. A report published in 2009 by the Mental Health Foundation in England found that 15% of people living in the United Kingdom are currently suffering from an anxiety disorder, and that rates are increasing: 37% of British people report feeling more frightened than they used to. A comprehensive global review of anxiety studies pub-

THE MAP OF DEPRESSION

F

or those who think of depression as a by-product of the vapidity of western materialism, the latest study by researchers in Queensland might come as something of a shock. Depression simply isn't that picky. And when it comes to depressive disorders, parts of North Africa and the Middle East suffer more than North America and Western Europe. According to the researchers, who gathered pre-existing data on clinical diagnoses up to 2010, Algeria, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan fared worse for the cumulative number of years their citizens lived with the disability of depression (YLD). (For the Middle East countries, bear in mind that this relates to data gathered before the Arab Spring turned lives upside down). Japan fared the best, along with Australia and New Zealand. The researchers caveated their work by acknowledging that data is patchy from some parts of the world. Intriguingly, the U.K. and U.S. – countries in which reporting on mental illness and cultural reflections of depression are rapidly multiplying – appear to be far less badly afflicted than parts of Africa and Eastern Europe. (Mark Rice-Oxley, The Guardian.

To know more: http://www.theguardian.com/society/datablog/2013/nov/08/whereworld-people-most-depressed) World map marking countries with statistically higher or lower YLD rates compared to the global means.

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lished in 2006 in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry concluded that as many as one in six people worldwide will be aff licted with an anxiety disorder for at least a year during some point in their lifetimes. Of course, these figures refer only to people, like me, who are, according to the somewhat arbitrary diagnostic criteria, technically classifiable as clinically anxious. But anxiety extends far beyond the population of the officially mentally ill. Primary care physicians report that anxiety is one of the most frequent complaints driving patients to their offices – more frequent, by some accounts, than the common cold.”

THREE QUARTERS WITHOUT TREATMENT

One is easily tempted to attribute this condition to the stressful lives of modern and mainly western societies.

But that is not true. Anxiety is not even the worst of mental illnesses. And they are not most common in western societies. In fact, the World Health Organization, which has an action plan to fight this form of “pandemic” until 2020, states: “Mental, neurological, and substance use disorders are common in all regions of the world, affecting every community and age group across all income countries. While 14% of the global burden of disease is attributed to these disorders, most of the people affected – 75% in many low-income countries – do not have access to the treatment they need. The W.H.O. Mental Health Gap Action Program (MHGAP) aims at scaling up services for mental, neurological and substance use disorders for countries especially with low- and middle-income. The Program asserts that with proper care, psycho-social assistance and medication, tens of millions could be treated for depression, schizophrenia, and epilepsy, prevented from suicide and begin to lead normal lives – even where resources are scarce.”

Mental, neurological and substance use disorders are usually related. For instance, the anxiety disorder of which

WM SPECIAL • FEAR AND RELIGION Stossel suffers is connected with a malfunction of the amygdala, a small part of the brain. The author also says frankly that, beyond the dozens of drugs that were prescribed to him during his lifetime, he also drank a lot, a way to try to deal with the pain and be able to function. Along with decades of therapy, he tried also almost everything, from prayer to meditation. But only God knows how difficult it is for an anxious person to keep his mind at rest. In his case, there is another factor: from his mother side, there is at least one case per generation, which points to a genetic connection. Other mental illnesses are being studied: for instance, scientists discovered that people who suffer from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder present the same kind of genetic marks, but they are not absolutely identical.

Even the use of drugs is a complex reality. Some defend that, while sometimes they can be the origin of the manifestation of the symptoms of some mental diseases, they are in themselves a symptom of a pre-existent condition, as in Stossel’s alcohol abuse. Almost all the street children in the world use a cheap drug – glue is one of them – to numb their sentiments and not to feel so desperately miserable. Of course, they – and society – will pay later a heavy cost: the quick degradation of cognitive capacities, violence and crime. It’s obvious that people who live in inhumane conditions are prone to addiction and/ or mental illness. The lack of a community spirit and the easy erosion of affective liaisons undermine their selfesteem and the ability to cope with the permanent challenges of survival.

THE POST-WAR SYNDROME

In time of war, everything is seen through a magnifying lens. Only some decades ago, after the Vietnam war, the U.S.A. began to face a condition that would be later called post-traumatic syndrome (PTS). Now, when those enlisted in Iraq and Afghanistan are returning in droves, the terrible shadow of PTS is showing again its darkest side:

Lusa

Listening to their sufferings and giving them some tenderness, which are powerful balms against the worst bruises, are ways of our duty to care for the sick, no matter if the affliction is in the body or in the mind. after being surrounded by the carnage, often seeing friends suffering an atrocious death or being forced to kill civilians in no less atrocious ways, many of the former combatants are opting for killing themselves. The ghosts that torment them are so powerful that, right now, more are dying in their own country than in the battlefields.

This is not exclusive of the U.S. army. Many of the Congo girls and women who were systematically abused as an act of war lost their minds, as thousands of child soldiers recruited in Uganda and neighboring countries by the infamous warlord Joseph Kony.

PTS, if not conveniently treated, can haunt those who survived the atrocities for the rest of their lives. And it doesn’t happen only in the battlefield. A devastating calamity, such as Typhoon Haiyan, can have a similar effect, especially among those who lost family members and friends and saw them disappear before their eyes. There is even a special kind of guilt associated with these sort of tragic losses: the guilt of survival.

FEARED AND PERSECUTED

Even if it is a terrible burden for those

who suffer from it, mental illness is still silenced and stigmatized. People tend, at best, to face it as a non-existent problem; at worst, to blame, persecute and even kill the victims. Because, in many places, they are still seen as cursed by evil spirits. Or, simply, because people are afraid to see in them a reflection of their own “insanity” – a word that is not used anymore because there are no totally “sane” or “insane” persons.

A question remains: How do we deal with the early symptoms and treat effectively these kind of ailments in societies where people do not have enough money to be able to eat? In some experiments in Africa and Asia, communal therapists are receiving a basic formation that enables them to offer those in need the most fundamental healing experiment: listening to their sufferings. It’s just a first step, but an important one. And, the second, giving them some tenderness, because it is a powerful balm against the worst bruises. The others – hospitals and medication – are something that, hopefully, can be provided by civic, non-governmental, governmental and church organizations. It’s our duty to care for the sick, no matter if the affliction is in the body or in the mind.

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FRONTLINE • NELSON MANDELA

Champion of peace and human rights by

FR. SHAY CULLEN, SSC | PREDA FOUNDATION

W

hat made Nelson Mandela the most famous and revered leader worldwide, and perhaps the most respected leader in history was his unshakable commitment to human rights and dignity. He inspired his nation, as a political prisoner, for 27 years under the apartheid white minority regime of South Africa and he stood by his principles, beliefs and commitments to democracy and racial freedom despite the offers of freedom if he compromised and betrayed his cause.

He refused, at first, to renounce armed struggle as a legitimate right against the oppression of the regime – until they agreed to renounce it also.

He was called a terrorist, not a freedom fighter. He chose to remain behind bars and suffer deprivations and humiliations with stoic virtue until the racist apartheid government recognized that only he could tame the rampaging civil unrest. The protest movement led by his African National Congress (ANC) could not be stopped or defeated despite mass murders, assassinations, and unspeakable cruelty to its members and activists by the police and military.

He never waived in his unshakable belief that there would be freedom.

World sympathy and support was with him. The South African apartheid government, civil society and sports organizations were banned and isolated worldwide. It was a great shame to be a white South African who did not support Mandela and the ANC and their desire for freedom and democracy.

But those white South African people who did support him were very brave indeed. And there were many.

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 RAINBOW NATION. Mandela, the people's hero, united blacks and whites the peaceful way.

His firm commitment was not to exchange one bloody torturing regime for another... His hope was to make peace and unite blacks and whites in a single nation for the future – the Rainbow Nation he dreamed of with human rights respected for all and by all.

The most famous, difficult and wise change of his policy was to renounce violence in favor of negotiations that would lead to a recognition of his political movement and party, the ANC and free elections. That was his strongest card and he played it well. He negotiated as a statesman and astute politician while still a prisoner.

He promised the minority government that, despite the denial of almost every human right to his people, he would respect their human rights.

Despite their unspeakable atrocities, many murders and cruelty, there would be no retaliation, no bloodbath, no vendettas or revenge killings. His firm commitment was not to exchange one bloody torturing regime for another led

by him; that, he denounced. His hope was to make peace and unite blacks and whites in a single nation for the future – the Rainbow Nation he dreamed of with human rights respected for all and by all.

His calm reasoning, congenial attitude, total lack of fear and unshakable integrity won over the white minority leaders. They believe him and were convinced that they could trust him to fulfill that promise and secure their future if he was ever elected.

On February 2, 1990 at the opening of parliament in Pretoria, President F.W. de Klerk announced the unbanning of all political parties including the ANC and seven days later, on February 9, 1990, Nelson Mandela walked to

freedom to a tumultuous welcome and worldwide acclaim.

He then, with others, negotiated the transition to national elections and told his supporters to throw their weapons into the sea. There was consternation, at first, but they so revered him as their leader that they obeyed.

Not all welcomed this change but it was the turning point on the road to democratic elections.

In 1991, he was elected president of the ANC and with 17 other political parties, participated in forging a draft constitution to end apartheid and open the way to national elections. His dream was now a reality.

In 1994, he glacially agreed to share the Nobel Peace Prize with his once deadly foe, F.W. de Klerk, for ending apartheid. The ANC won and Nelson Mandela was elected the first black president. The military and police generals covered in medals and ribbons that had condemned him as a terrorist and hounded and killed his followers were there, ironically, to shake his hand and pledge allegiance.

The monumental task to unite the people and fight poverty began. Despite racial tension, he worked at it for six years and then at the end of his term, to the surprise of all, he stepped down. He became a global icon for the defense of human rights, dignity and racial equality. Despite his advanced age, he toured the world bringing peace and hope to millions who are suffering from human rights violations and oppression.

South Africa is far from healed.

The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) brought closure for some. If the killers and torturers on both sides confessed their crimes in public, they would not be punished. It’s not near over. Progress has been made but poverty and inequality has not greatly changed; yet, there is a nation at peace and a long way yet to go for the Rainbow Nation that Nelson Mandela did most to bring about - an impossible dream made real. shaycul-

NELSON MANDELA: A LIFE IN QUOTES On a meaningful life: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” (May 2002)

On success: “Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.”

(December 2009.

Letter to cricketer Makhaya Ntini)

On vigilance: “If the ANC does to you what the apartheid government did to you, then you must do to the ANC what you did to the apartheid government.” (July 1993. Speaking to South Africa’s Trade Union Congress)

On humor: “You sharpen your ideas by reducing yourself to the level of the people you are with, and a sense of humor and complete relaxation, even when you’re discussing serious things, does help to mobilize friends around you. And I love that.” (August 2005)

On being a man of the people: “I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I, and you, the people, are not free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.” (10 February 1985.

Message from prison, read by his daughter to a rally in Soweto)

On sacrifice: “I am not less life-loving than you are. But I cannot sell my birthright, nor am I prepared to sell the birthright of the people to be free.”

(February 1985.

Response to the offer of freedom from PW Botha.

Remark quoted in “A Part of My Soul Went With Him” by Winnie Mandela)

On freedom: “There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountain tops of our desires.”

(21 September 1953.

Presidential address to ANC conference, adapted from a statement by former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru)

On adversity: “Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.” (1 February 1975. Letter to Winnie Mandela)

On humanity: “Since my release, I have become more convinced than ever that the real makers of history are the ordinary men and women of our country; their participation in every decision about the future is the only guarantee of true democracy and freedom.”

(1990. The Struggle is My Life)

On morality: “Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.”

(1994. Long Walk to Freedom)

On life's obstacles: “I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”

(1994. Long Walk to Freedom)

On equality: “During my lifetime, I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve.

But if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” (20 April 1964.

Rivonia's trial) On personal weakness: “That was one of the things that worried me – to be raised to the position of a semi-god – because then you are no longer a human being. I wanted to be known as Mandela, a man with weaknesses, some of which are fundamental, and a man who is committed, but nevertheless, sometimes he fails to live up to expectations.”

len@preda.org, www.preda.org

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MEDITATION • A CHURCH OF HOPE

Future horizons

“Put out into the deep and lower your net for a catch.” This sentence of Jesus to Simon Peter in the Gospel of Luke (5:4) was taken allegorically by Blessed John Paul II to describe the missionary attitude that befits the Church at the beginning of the Third Millennium. The need of a new evangelization to overcome the passivity of traditional Catholicism and address the growing masses of non-Christians has been repeated in countless ways by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and many others. Recently, Pope Francis has given most remarkable guidelines in his document, "The Joy of the Gospel." by

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“

ow it happened that Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing around Him…Jesus got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to pull out a little from the shore. Then He sat down and taught the crowd from the boat. When He had finished speaking, Jesus said to Simon: “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch” (See Luke 5:1-11).

The episode was easily and happily interpreted allegorically by Blessed John Paul II in his letter which ushers in the Third Millennium of Christianity, Novo Millennio Ineunte (2001).

“At the beginning of the new millennium, and at the closing of the Great Jubilee, a new stage of the Church’s journey begins and our hearts ring out with the words of Jesus when one day, after speaking to the crowds from Simon’s boat, He invited the Apostles to 'put out into the deep for a catch' – Duc in altum!" Peter and his companions trusted Christ’s words, and cast the nets.

“When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish” (Luke 5:6).

Duc in altum! These words ring out for us today, and they invite us to remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm, and to look forward to the future with confidence: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

Let us go forward in hope! A new millennium is opening before the Church like a vast ocean upon which we shall

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venture, relying on the help of Christ…

At the beginning of this new century, our steps must quicken as we travel the highways of the world…

UNFURL THE SAILS TO THE WIND OF THE SPIRIT

“Together, let us unfurl the Church’s sails to the wind of the Spirit, examining the signs of the times and interpreting them in the sign of the Gospel, to answer “the ever recurring questions of men and women about the meaning of this present life and of the life to come.” From the beginning of his pontificate in 1978, Pope John Paul II understood that his commission from the Lord was to lead the Church into the new millennium.

It is said that the Polish primate, Cardinal Wyszinsky, had told the Pope, immediately after his election, that this was his task. John Paul II mentions this in his first encyclical letter Redemptor Hominis (1979) which was his program. The Pope indicates, over and over again, that our faith is about a person – Jesus Christ – who introduces us into the fellowship and communion of the Holy Trinity.

The Pope recognizes that it is naïve to think that there is some magic formula to solve the problems of our age.

No, he says, we shall not be saved by a formula, but by a Person, Jesus, and by the assurance which He gives us: “I am with you.” This essential guideline remains vital against the background

of traditional Catholicism that, in the Philippines, is exemplified by the Simbang Gabi (the novena for Christmas).

The Simbang Gabi, with all its charm, is certainly a feature of the Filipino Catholicism.

Such an extraordinary attendance!

We cannot exclude an element of “superstition” or, better, the belief that if you do certain acts, you capture good luck. It is like a spiritual feng shui, something that most devout and practicing Chinese Christians will not neglect! The early hours are beautiful, the weather, cool; the silence, overwhelming, only counterpointed by the humming of the early traffic from a distance…The choir puts us in the right atmosphere with a lively rendition of “Halina, Hesus, halina” (Come, Jesus, come).

CATHOLICISM DENTED BY SECTS

The moment of Communion comes and the streams of communicants seem unending. I can’t help noticing some of them: the hesitant or embarrassed way they open their mouth or extend their hands to receive the Host reveals that it is something very unfamiliar… Are they prepared for it? Do they know what they are doing? Nowadays, most Catholic people receive Communion and very few go to confession…

The Simbang Gabi is so characteristic of this culture that many overseas workers time their vacations with the Christmas season in order to take part in it. It is a general phenomenon and yet

so many Christian sects have considerably dented the Catholic masses. It is estimated that around 15 million Filipinos have left the Catholic Church in the last decades and joined the sects. A fact that is repeated in Latin America and, more recently, in Africa…To my understanding, that is the consequence of the number of pastors who come to evangelize our neglected masses.

It is true that there are many more seminaries and seminarians in the Philippines nowadays than in the past, but the population has, in the meantime, increased enormously. What can a young priest, alone in a parish of 30/50 thousand faithful, do? The field is wide open for every kind of poachers! If the trend keeps on (and becomes a landslide!), will the Simbang Gabi disappear?

Christians in China almost disappeared in the 18th century, when the emperor turned against Christianity and the pope suppressed the Society of Jesus. The f lock was disbanded because it had no shepherds. I spent my youth, as a missionary, in Uganda and happily witnessed the swelling of the Catholic Church. I went back there six years ago and I found now more than 600 Christian denominations and the number is growing by the day. In the last decades, it is a fact that the missionary initiative has passed to the Pentecostals; Catholics have become dormant in the field of mission. The call of the popes to “put out into the deep” was

meant to awaken the missionary dynamism of the Catholic masses.

TEN MISSIONARY GUIDELINES

The following are ten statements by Pope Francis about the way to announce the Gospel to the present day world, taken from his recent document “The Joy of the Gospel.” It is a heartfelt call to all the baptized in order for them to take Jesus’ love “with new fervor and dynamism, in a permanent state of mission, overcoming the great risk of today’s world: that of falling into an individualist cynicism and lack of joy.”

4 The sign of God’s welcoming attitude is to find churches with doors always open so that all those who are searching may not find the cold reception of a closed door.

4 Not even the doors of the Sacraments should be closed: for example, the Eucharist is “not a reward for the perfect, but a generous remedy and a nourishment for the weak.”

4 Better a Church “wounded and dirty because she is out on the roads of the world” than a Church closed in a defensive attitude.

4 These are the temptations of pastoral workers: an individualistic attitude, identity crisis, a cooling off of fervor.

We must be signs of hope, putting into

practice the “revolution of tenderness,” praying that God may free us from a worldly Church, often in pastoral or spiritual disguise.

4 Lay people, who are often kept at the margin of the decision process by an exaggerated clericalism, should receive more responsibility and the young should be encouraged to take lead positions.

4 The present economic system is “unjust in its roots” because what prevails is the law of the stronger, where those who are excluded are exploited and become the leftovers, the refuse of society. “We are living in a new, invisible tyranny of a market economy, often considered like an idol where, financially playing with the market, pervasive corruption and selfish tax evasion dominate.”

4 The family is going through a deep cultural crisis, where “the post-modern and globalized individualism favors a lifestyle that perverts family ties.”

4 A “Church poor for the poor” means we understand that the poor have much to teach us and, if and until their problems are not radically faced and solved, even the problems of the world will not find a solution.

4 Politics, so much reviled, is “one of the most precious forms of charity;” we must pray to God that He may grant us more politicians who will take to heart the life of the poor.

4 “Goodness, by itself, tends to spread” and every person who experiences a deep liberation from egoism, acquires a greater sensitivity as far as the needs of the neighbors are concerned. Whoever desires to live in fullness and dignity has no other way but to recognize the others’ good and contribute to it.

This is a generous and intelligent program. The important thing is to put it into practice.

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MISSIONARY VOCATION • ANNALENA TONELLI

Mother Teresa of Somalia

“I am a nobody.” This is how she defined herself, lost as she was, alone, in the great sea of a suffering humanity. An Italian lawyer and social activist, she volunteered to the service of the poor and sick for 33 years in Africa. At an early age, Annalena Tonelli (1943 - 2003) was attracted by the example of the radical Christianity of Blessed Charles de Foucauld and, in an extraordinary way, imitated his example. Her life also ended like his, by the bullet of an unknown assassin. She trained herself on the job to become an expert in successfully treating tuberculosis and, in June 2003, was awarded the Nansen Refugee Award. She is a gigantic figure and by what she describes as the mercy sacrament, she showed an extraordinary understanding of the mystery of Christ’s incarnation in those who suffer. She, who was known as Mother Teresa of Somalia, is still remembered with an incredible love by the Muslim population of the place where she lived and died. by

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he area of Northern Kenya, bordering with Somalia, is a semi-desertic wasteland crisscrossed by tracks that often see bands of marauders belonging to the nomadic tribes that inhabit those desolated places roaming about looking for robbery and looting. They are the notorious Shifta. Right in the middle of this Godforsaken part of Africa, there is the little town of Wajir that was, at that time, the residence of Annalena Tonelli, the heroic Italian lay volunteer who had specialized in the cure of tuberculosis.

In 1984, following political and inter-clan clashes, the army of Kenya started a repression campaign against the Degodia Somali clan in the Wajir area known as the Wagalla Massacre.

The Degodia were suspected of being Shifta or bandits along the roadways.

The Kenyan military rounded up 5,000 men and boys and brought them to the Wagalla airstrip and forced them to lie on their stomachs, naked, for five days.

Possibly a thousand were shot, tortured or died of exposure.

With incredible courage and determination, Annalena brought a couple of lorries and her Toyota Serf to the Wagalla airstrip and attempted to collect the bodies and treat the wounded but was refused. Later, she followed the tracks of the military vehicles who were dumping the bodies outside the

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Wagalla airstrip. Some of the victims were not dead and she rescued them.

She brought a journalist to photograph the genocide. She smuggled the photos out with Barbara Lefkow, the wife of an American diplomat, to put pressure on the international community.

The public denunciation of Annalena Tonelli helped to stop the killings but not before thousands died. The Wagalla Massacre is Kenya's worst human rights violation in its history. Arrested and taken in front of a martial court, Annalena was told that the fact she had escaped two ambushes was not a guarantee that she would survive a third one. Due to Tonelli's vehement protests over the Kenyan military's use of violence, the Kenyan authorities refused to extend her work permit. Annalena Tonelli, subsequently, relocated to Somalia, continuing her life of dedication to the poor alone.

YOUNG, WHITE AND UNMARRIED

Annalena Tonelli was born at Forlì in Italy on April 2 1943, the only daughter of Guido, manager of the local farmers’ cooperative, and Teresina Bignardi, who had also four sons. She studied law at the ancient Bologna University and got her doctorate, “only to please her family” as she later declared, because her deepest tendency was for humanitarian work.

Annalena left Italy for Africa in 1969. She was 26. She had already spent six years of service to the poor in the slums of her city of origin, to the children of the local orphanage, especially the little girls with mental disability or victims of trauma, and to the Third World poor by means of the Committee against World Hunger that started in 1963 by her own initiative which will continue to operate in the future on behalf of Annalena’s initiatives.

She later declared: “I left Italy determined to shout the Gospel message with my life in Fr. Charles de Foucauld’s wake who had fired my existence. Thirty-three years after, I am shouting the Gospel with my very life and I am on

fire with the desire to keep on shouting it until the end.” Hers was a vocation already ripe at a very young age: "I chose to be for others: the poor, the suffering, the abandoned, the non-loved since I was a little girl and such I have been and keep on being and will continue to be until the end of my life. What I wanted was only to follow Christ. Nothing else interests me but Christ and the poor in Him. I am not married because this is the choice I made: I wanted to belong completely to God.” Annalena settled in Kenya, where she worked as a lay Christian missionary. She spent over a decade in the town of Wajir, caring for the destitute and the sick. She focused on tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment; moreover, on campaigns for eradication of female genital mutilation, and special schools for hearing-impaired, blind and disabled children. The beginnings were not easy for her in Kenya; everything was against her. She was a young, white woman, unmarried – something absurd in that environment where celibacy did not exist and was not a value for anybody. It was even considered a non-value.

TREATING AND FEEDING THE SICK

In 1976, Annalena became responsible for a World Health Organization (WHO) pilot project for treating tuberculosis in nomadic people. This was because she had started to invite the nomadic tuberculosis patients to camp in front of the Rehabilitation Center for Disabled she was running with other female volunteers who had joined her to serve polio patients, blind, deaf-mute, and disabled people. This approach guaranteed patients' compliance in taking the therapy over the needed sixmonth treatment, and it was adopted

by WHO as DOTS (Directly Observed Therapy Short).

Annalena was able to feed daily more than three thousand people, cooking tons of maize flour, vegetables and beans in huge drums that had previously stored aircraft fuel. She herself was happy with only four hours of sleep per night. She had only two gowns and a shawl and was satisfied with very little food; only sometimes she indulged herself with some Italian coffee and a few crackers.

She also created a school for the deaf at Wajir. The approach was original and

I chose to be for others: the poor, the suffering, the abandoned, the non-loved since I was a little girl and such I have been and keep on being and will continue to be until the end of my life. What I wanted was only to follow Christ.

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it was at Annalena’s school for the deaf that the Somali sign language was born for the first time. This success made the graduates of this school to go to other parts of Somali-speaking Africa to start other schools for the deaf.

From the nomads of the desert, Annalena said that she learned precariousness because of their awareness of the possibility of suddenly losing everything and, therefore, the necessity of starting afresh. She wrote: “They have taught me faith, unconditional abandonment, surrender to God, a surrender that has nothing fatalistic in it, but that is like a rock or like being rooted in God, our Rock of Refuge, a surrender which is trust and love. My nomadic friends of the desert have taught me how to do everything, start everything, accomplish everything in God’s name.”

As we have mentioned above, her staying in Kenya was marked by trouble and contradictions. She had to leave the country the first time in 1990; she went back the following year but, after a while, she had to run away from the danger of being executed. Eventually, her working permit was denied and she moved across the border to Somalia.

Annalena first settled in the southern port town of Merca which, during the colonial period, was part of Italian Somaliland. She later moved to Borama, in the north-western Awdal region, a town of the former British Somaliland protectorate.

NOT A SINGLE CHRISTIAN

There, she founded a 250-bed hospital for tuberculosis patients and later on for AIDS patients. She also started a school for deaf and handicapped children.

She wrote: “The population is totally Muslim. There is not a single Christian person with whom I might share a word about my faith. Twice a year, around Christmas and Easter, the Catholic bishop of Gibuti comes to celebrate Mass for me and with me and gives me communion. The people here are praying so that I may convert to Islam. They hint it to me discreetly, but they always

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add that God knows and that I will go to heaven even if I remain a Christian.”

She was happy among them because of the strength of her vocation.

She wrote: “I run crazy, I lose my head over these shreds of wounded humanity: the more wounded they are, the more ill-treated they are, despised, voiceless, of no value in the eyes of the world, the more I love them. And this love is tenderness, understanding, tolerance, lack of fear, audacity. This is not a merit, it is a demand of my nature. But there is no doubt that in them I see Christ, the Lamb of God who suffers in His flesh the sins of the world, who shoulders them, who is in pain but with so much love….Nobody is outside God’s love.”

The respect and the love of the local community didn’t, however, spare her from martyrdom. Threatened for her witness and work, on October 5, 2003, two hired gunmen shot her in the head while she was coming back to the hospital and residence. Around her, as she lay on the ground, a circle of people quickly formed itself in order to protect her.

They carried her to the hospital, but in vain: the wound was too grave and Annalena died. Once before she had escaped lynching by hiding in the maze of the village streets while an angry crowd was looking for her, accusing her of spreading the AIDS epidemics because she had started gathering the HIV positive patients in her hospital.

This time, violent death caught up with

her, as it had with her model and protector, Blessed Charles de Foucauld.

ONLY LOVING MATTERS

Commenting on her sudden and tragic death, Msgr. Sandro De Pretis, then vicar general of Gibuti, said: “With her work, Annalena was giving witness to Christian love. She did not do direct apostolate, she was not there to convert, but only in order to be an instrument of God’s love.” Annalena herself gave the following witness about her life in one of the very rare public statements, on the occasion of the International Day of Voluntary Service at the Vatican in Rome: “I wanted to follow Jesus and I chose to be for the poor. Since then, I am living to the service of the poor. Because of Jesus, I made a radical choice, even if poor as a real destitute, I will never be able to be. I live out my service without a name, without the security of a religious order, without belonging to any organization, without a salary, not even the contributions for an old age pension. I shout the Gospel only with my life and I am on fire in order to keep on until the end.

This is my basic motivation, together with a passion for wounded and diminished human beings, those who are such, not trough their fault, beyond race or culture or faith… Our life makes sense only if we love. Nothing makes sense, only love. My life has known

MISSIONARY VOCATION • ANNALENA TONELLI very sober type of life as far as accommodation, food, means of transport and dress. I have spontaneously renounced my western habits. I have looked for dialogue with everybody.”

JESUS NEVER SPOKE OF RESULTS

so many dangers. Many times I have risked death. For years, I have lived in the midst of war and I have experienced in the flesh of those who are mine, those I love, the badness of human beings, their perversion, cruelty and iniquity. I came out of it with the unshakable conviction that what matters is loving, only loving. Only thus life is worth living.”

When she was at Merka, in the former Italian Somaliland, the Italian government sent a warship in the vicinity and Annalena was invited aboard in order to receive a cross to the civic merit.

They came for her with a smaller craft and helicopters. There was a great ceremony. They told Annalena that, in the aircraft carrier, the Italian ambassador was waiting for her. At first she didn’t want to accept, but eventually she understood that she had to comply. So she boarded the helicopter and went aboard and was solemnly awarded the cross to the civic merit in the presence of a rejoicing little crowd.

She said: “I never looked at that medal and I don’t even know its value.

I sent it immediately to my mother. As you may know, I am against such type of acknowledgments: they are contrary to my life’s choice. I wanted to be a nobody. I have succeeded in this. I live like a nobody, with no power or protection. I want to continue like this: this is the meaning of my life. When you do something for the others, nobody should come to know about it.”

“Mother Teresa of Somalia” – this is how Annalena Tonelli was called because of her life spent day in day out on behalf of the lost, the least and the last: the sick, the poor…A life of selfless service cut short by a gunshot in Boroma, an isolated corner of Somalia. A devout Catholic, she found herself living and working in a pervasive Muslim society.

She stated: “I try to live with extreme respect towards those whom the Lord has entrusted to me. I have assumed, as far as possible, their lifestyle. I live a

Annalena Tonelli’s life was enlightened by a deep faith in God. But it was also marked by violence and difficulties, due to the fact of being a woman in a Muslim environment of extreme poverty and lack of financial and sanitary means. Notwithstanding all this, her message is one of hope. She is a very relevant witness of openness to dialogue, to meeting those who are different, destitute, dejected.

She stated: “The small ones, the voiceless, those who count nothing in the eyes of the world but much in God’s eyes, His favorite, need us and we must be with them and for them and it doesn’t matter if our action is like a drop in the ocean. Jesus Christ never spoke of results. He only told us to love one another, to wash one another’s feet, to forgive always… The poor are waiting for us. The ways of serving are infinite and left to our own imagination. Let us not wait to be instructed on the time of our service: let us invent, take initiative…

And we shall find a new earth and a new heaven each day of our life.”

Annalena Tonelli demonstrated with her life that the primary way of ecumenism is that of living side by side with others, those who are different, listening to them, keeping the Gospel within the heart, and taking care of them in love.

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THE LAST WORD

THE FIRST POPE MEETS THE PAGANS by

FR . SILVANO FAUSTI, S.J. | BIBLIST & WRITER

“Truly, I perceive that God shows no partiality” – Read Acts 10:23b-48 & 11:1-18

The Father, in order to move Peter to go to the pagans, mobilizes both heavenly and earthly troops. He gives trouble even to Himself and to the Holy Spirit. What is at stake is the Son’s identity and His own. The first Pope, future bishop of the pagan Rome, although reluctant and with many questions, is compelled to encounter those whom he would better avoid. Peter doesn’t know the sense of his vision and why he should follow the three men.

Neither does he know what to say or do with Cornelius. He will understand slowly from what is happening. Reality is the only teacher. Unwillingly, and escorted by six brothers (Acts 11:12), he follows the soldier and the other two who have received the order to take him to Caesarea. Cornelius has been waiting for him for four days. Seeing him, he throws himself at Peter’s feet in order to adore him. Peter, however, lifts him up saying: “I, too, am a human being!” It is the great conversion: Peter acknowledges to be a human being himself like any other, like the Son of Man who is Son of God. Entering the house, he finds “that many had come together.”

We also belong to that gathering. Behind that door, there are the masses of the pagan world into which Peter enters as a guest.

Guest is whoever adapts to whoever is the host. The true residence of the Christian is not the Church but the world, that lost world on behalf of which God has given His Son. Peter hurries to declare that, as a Jew, he could not enter. But God “has already shown him that no human being should be called common or unclean.” Peter and Cornelius tell each other their visions. They are so important that, in Chapters 10 and 11 of the Acts, they are continuously repeated: four times Cornelius’ vision and three times Peter’s. We must remember them often. They spell the most important truths, those that we tend to forget, putting them down as taken-for-granted platitudes.

Neither of them knows how the story will end.

Cornelius says to Peter: “I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now, therefore, we are all here present in the sight of God, to hear what you have been commanded by the Lord.” In the same house, two different worlds: the Jewish and the pagan are meeting. It is the fulfillment of the blessing prom-

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WORLD MISSION

FEBRUARY

2014

ised to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3): all human beings are blessed children of God because they are brothers and sisters among themselves (Cf. Psalm 87). It is the very mystery of God, Father of all, now revealed to all. On Jesus’ cross, every enmity is overcome: “For He is our peace, who has made us both one people, and has broken down the wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new human being” (Read: Ephesians 2:1421; Cf. Colossians 1:25-27; Romans 16:25-27).

Now Peter understands that all human beings are his brothers and sisters, loved by the Father and redeemed by the Son’s love.

This is the Gospel that God is ordering him to proclaim. Now he knows what to say: it is the “Apostolic Creed” (vv. 36-43). Our faith does not consist in an ensemble of doctrines and laws, but in Jesus’ story: life and miracles, death and resurrection. It is Jesus, crucified by our sins, who is the Judge of all. It is Jesus Himself, with His love, who frees us from every fault. As we can see, dogmas are not ideas, but the account of what Jesus did and is doing in order to give us back our life, which is His own as Son of the Father.

This is Peter’s last sermon in the Acts. The conversion to Christ of the pagans is executed and willed directly by God. The Father’s true fatigue was Peter’s conversion to the pagans. It was hard to overcome his resistances in order to make him a true disciple of the Son. At last, Christianity opens itself to its universal mission: it welcomes all human beings as brothers or sisters in their diversity.

The Holy Spirit comes down on the listeners who were not yet baptized and without Peter’s invocation. He is already hidden in the heart of every person. In order to come to light, He only waits for the Word of the Son. © Popoli – www.popoli.info

REFLECT AND PRAY – Faith originates from listening to God’s Word. Have you considered the fact that God needs people to accomplish His mission? Have you considered the possibility of being a missionary?

– Are you free from prejudice and open to appreciate every person?

– Do you share Jesus’ dream of bringing humanity to unity and peace?

“The dignity of the human person and the common good rank higher than the comfort of those who refuse to renounce their privileges.

When these values are threatened, a prophetic voice must be raised.�

- EVANGELII GAUDIUM N. 218