The Southern Cross - 100324

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R5,00 (incl VAT RSA)

SOUTHERN AFRICA’S NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY SINCE 1920

Vatican: ‘Give generously for Holy Land’

Inside To fight human trafficking An international workshop on human trafficking in Gauteng discussed practical ways of educating people about the dangers of slavery they could face.—Page 2

BY CINDY WOODEN

Killed with paintball gun

A

Robbers killed a security guard for the Johannesburg-based Love of Christ Ministries orphanage by shooting him at close range with a paintball gun.—Page 3

Abuse: How to respond Love, honesty and devotion to Christ are essential for facing the crisis in the Church and in the priesthood caused by cases of clerical sexual abuse, an Australian archbishop said as the scandal deepened.—Page 5

Homilies eight minutes tops Homilies should be no longer than eight minutes—a listener’s average attention span, according to a Vatican archbishop.—Page 4

Praying with the pope In his monthly column on the papal prayer intentions, Fr Chris Chatteris looks at how we should respond to fundamentalism and observes the suffering of persecuted Christians.—Page 9

Getting ready for Holy Week In her monthly column, Toni Rowland suggests ways in which families can prepare spiritually for Holy Week.—Page 9

The hotline to God Chris Moerdyk tells the story of the journalist and the Holy Father’s pricey “hotline to God”.—Page 12

What do you think?

In their Letters to the Editor this week, readers discuss people who sell The Southern Cross in their parishes, a new Reformation, criminalising homosexuality, abuse, and help refused.—Page 8

This week’s editorial: Why was Jesus killed?

Holy Week with Pope Benedict

www.scross.co.za

March 24 to March 30, 2010 No 4668

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Divine Climate Mercy feast change: think again misplaced?

Five years on: John Paul II remembered

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

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CHRIST CRUCIFIED: Bright spotlights illuminate a crucifix in a church in Greece, New York.

Catholics will observe Good Friday on April 2 this year.

PHOTO: MIKE CRUPI, CATHOLIC COURIER

S Catholics remember the death of Jesus on Good Friday, they are also asked to remember the Christians who still live in the land where Jesus lived and rose from the dead.

In a letter to the world’s bishops, urging them to support the annual collection for the Holy Land, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri said all Catholics share the responsibility of the Christians in the Holy Land to keep the church alive there and preserve the sites associated with Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

Cardinal Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, coordinates the Holy Land collection, which most parishes take up on Good Friday. His office also coordinates the committee that distributes the funds. Fr Leon Lemmens, an official at the congregation, said that in the past few years, the collection has averaged about $25 million a year.

Many of the projects combine archaeological studies and restoration of Christian shrines with the improvement of pilgrim facilities and convents at the same site, for example at the shrine of the Visitation in Ain Karem and the convent of St Lazarus in Bethany. Similar, but more extensive work is going on in Magdala, the presumed home of Mary Magdalene, which will include a pilgrim itinerary designed to illustrate daily life in the town at the time of Jesus.

Funds collected around the world help pay for university scholarships for Christian students in the region, support for craftmaking businesses, social and medical services for the poor, financial assistance to struggling parishes and schools and a project to build apartments for poor families and young couples.

In addition, the collection helps support the faculty of biblical sciences and archaeology at a Franciscan-run institute in Jerusalem, the Franciscan Media Centre and the Magnificat Institute, a new music school with 180 students.—CNS

Tlhagale: Hands ‘dripped in blood’

BY JUDY STOCKILL

A

RCHBISHOP Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg has said that lawmakers had been “binning God” and tolerate religion only when practised in private.

Addressing more than 2 000 marchers during an antiabortion march from Johannesburg’s Christ the King cathedral to Constitution Hill, Archbishop Tlhagale said: “The hands of South Africa’s lawmakers are dripping with blood.”

Officials from the Department of Health accepted a petition addressed to the minister of health, calling for an end to abortion.

South Africa is a young democracy, Archbishop Tlhagale said, but lawmakers wasted no time in “binning God” when they legalised abortion by passing the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act in November 1996.

Politicians, he said, tolerate religion so long as it is practised in private, but deny that God is the source of all freedom. The abortion act simply frees a person from moral responsibility and the dictates of their conscience, he said.

The archbishop warned against a false impression that since abortion is approved by government legislation, it cannot be wrong. Such reasoning, he said, reduces morality to a personal preference.

He said that the debate around moral regeneration, pro-

posed by President Jacob Zuma, would be just that—a debate in which there are no absolutes and no non-negotiables.

For Christians, however, God is the author of life and they have to answer to him on the issue of abortion, the archbishop said. He acknowledged tensions between individuals as well as between the Church and politicians who have legalised abortion, but added that society is “too lazy” to search for the truth.

He noted that in South Africa such phenomena as child rape, the brutal abuse of women and children, drug use, and violent road deaths are common. Amid this violence the Gospel calls us to protect and revere life, he said, adding that the Commandment “Thou shalt not kill” is unambiguous. Life is of unassailable, inestimable value and abortion is a deplorable crime, he added. Yet, South Africa’s lawmakers deny life and offer abortion on demand.

Archbishop Tlhagale told the demonstrators that doctors and nurses are pledged to serve life, not death. He asked how long it would be before South Africa’s Constitution protects life.

The archbishop called on young people to respect their bodies and life, urging them to speak out on such issues because silence means complicity.

“Love God, love your neighbour. Protect and defend life—life from its inception,” he told the marchers.

Catholics took to the streets of Johannesburg to protest against abortion. In his address to the demonstrators, Archbishop Buti Tlhagale said lawmakers had blood on their hands for legalising abortion.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ARCHDIOCESAN NEWS, JOHANNESBURG

2

The Southern Cross, March 24 to March 30, 2010

Br Thomas Sheehy has been elected regional superior of the South African sector of the De La Salle Brothers in the St Charles Lwanga province of English-speaking Africa. Br Sheehy succeeds Br Gabriel Griffin, who held the position for the past 13 years.

SUMBITTED BY BR GEORGE WHYTE

LOCAL International workshop tackles human trafficking

BY MICHAIL RASSOOL

S

EVENTEEN sisters from different congregations participated in a workshop on counter-human trafficking at the Carmelite Retreat Centre in Benoni, near Johannesburg.

The workshop, a follow-up on two previous training sessions, was co-funded by the International Union of Superiors General and the Leadership Conference of Consecrated Life, and was aimed at intensifying counter-trafficking efforts especially with Fifa World Cup approaching.

Participants came from Brazil, Thailand, Ireland, Nigeria, Botswana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia, said Loreto Sister Monica Shanley, a member of the Western Cape Counter-Human Trafficking Forum.

She said each participant was involved in counter-human trafficking activities through raising awareness in schools, parishes, youth groups, writing articles and disseminating posters, brochures.

Sr Shanley said a counterhuman trafficking campaign would be launched in South Africa on May 6, and aims to involve every bishop, priest, religious and Church worker, in an effort to reach every person, young and old, with whom they are in contact, to convey information about the “stranger danger”.

“But it is not only strangers who lure victims,” she said.

“Relatives have been known to ‘sell’ these hapless victims into a life of the worst kind of slavery.”

Sr Shanley said concerns were raised as schools and educational institutions would be closed for five weeks during the Fifa World Cup. “Millions of children and youths will be unsupervised and vulnerable, and could become prey to criminals who may lure them with promises of job opportunities and use them for cheap labour, for the selling of drugs or for sex work,” Sr Shanley said.

A sister from Thailand spoke about the continuous stream of young women from her country who respond to advertisements for employment in Thai massage parlours in South Africa, only to end up in brothels or as sex slaves, said Sr Shanley.

The Thai government was concerned and eager to cooperate with organisations working towards implementing prevention strategies to protect their women from such exploitation, the sister said.

Sr Shanley said the South African department of education was planning to provide activities and food for school children during the World Cup, which takes place from June 11 to July 11. There would also be a “fan park” in each host city with large television screens on match day.

“One tends to be sceptical about the practical implemen-

tation of such a nationwide plan,” she said. “It is obvious that great vigilance is needed in order to protect the children.”

She said workshop participants also voiced their concerns about tourists being potential victims of unwitting human trafficking agents. A circular warning letter was drafted giving guidelines for their protection and safety, she added.

Sr Shanley said a further plan involved the creation of materials — caps, pens, toys, rulers, arm bands and coasters, carrying such slogans as “2010 is about the games; Let’s kick out human trafficking” and “Blow the whistle on human trafficking”.

She said posters, cards and brochures developed by Holy Family Sister Melanie O’Connor of the bishops’ Human Trafficking Desk were available to participants, as were posters and pamphlets in different languages from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

The IOM’s Stefano Volpicello and Salesian Sister Bernadette Sangma, both from Rome, were the workshop's facilitators.

Sr Shanley said at the end of the training session the Southern African Women Religious against Trafficking in Persons was formed. It is now a member of Talitha Kum (Mk 5:41), an international network, which comprises of 19 member networks worldwide.

Catholics step out to celebrate cathedral’s anniversary

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ATHOLICS of Kokstad took to the streets to celebrate the 85th anniversary of St Patrick’s cathedral.

Accompanied by drum majorettes, floats representing spiritual themes, choirs, drama groups and a concourse of singing flag bearers and public the Catholics of Kokstad gave thanks to God for his presence among them for so many years.

Following the procession through the town, a short history of the cathedral and greetings from dignitaries of Church and state was given.

Over a thousand guests, some travelling from Bhongweni, shared in the celebration.

Celebrations were led by the parish priest, Fr Joseph Methanath.

Several other guests shared in the two day’s events. These

included Bishop William Slattery of Kokstad, who was accompanied by his predecessor, Cardinal Wilfred Napier of Durban, papal nuncio Archbishop James P Green, Bishop Stan Dziuba of Umzimkulu, Bishop Xolelo Kumalo of Eshowe, and public works minister, Geoff Doidge.

The first Catholic church in Kokstad was opened in September 1884, with the first chapel constructed by soldiers of the Cape Mounted Rifles. With the chapel a school was founded and a resident priest moved to the city.

Four years later, in 1888, a small group of Holy Cross Sisters made the three-week journey from Umtata to establish a school. The leader was Sr Philothea Kruger, who as a young woman left her home to

serve the Lord in South Africa.

With the help of the community of Kokstad, St Patrick’s School, under the leadership of the sisters, served the people of Kokstad for 107 years. The tradition and name of the school is now proudly borne by the new school of St Patrick, Bishop’s said.

In 1924 the sisters felt that Kokstad needed a better and more ample church and so financed the building of the present cathedral, which has become a landmark in the town.

“This Church in Kokstad unites our people with God and with each other. It reminds us of our common origin, we belong together in God. Here we celebrate our belonging to God,” said Bishop Slattery.

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The Southern Cross, March 24 to March 30, 2010

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Orphange security guard killed with paintball gun

BY MICHAIL RASSOOL

A

STATIONS: Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg carries a cross while Frs Michael van Heerden (left) and Vincent Brennan reflect on Christ’s Passion on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Jordan. The Via Dolorosa marks the Stations of the Cross, culminating in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Good Friday is on April 2.

PHOTO: VAL TANGNEY

Parish nurse resource centre mooted for SA

BY MICHAIL RASSOOL

A

REGIONAL Parish Nurse Resource Centre in Africa will soon be established in South Africa.

The centre will be a coordinating and training structure for parish-based nursing efforts across the continent.

Thuli Mzamane, development and training officer at Catholic Health Care (Cathca), said the idea was endorsed at a meeting held at St Benedict’s House, Johannesburg. The meeting was attended by nurses from six African countries: Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Swaziland, Nigeria and Zambia.

She said the meeting agreed that it made sense to have such a resource in South Africa for logistical reasons, but is something that has to be financed and fundraised for.

The meeting was facilitated by two American parish nurses, Marabel Kelsey and Maureen Daniels from the St Louis-based

Parish Nurse Resource Center, a similar coordinating structure.

The centre would be run from Cathca’s premises in Melrose, Johannesburg.

Ms Mzamane said it made sense to have a parish-based nurse in a place that is central to life on a continent where medical conditions such as HIV/Aids and tuberculosis, and their effects, are almost ubiquitous.

A parish-based nurse would not only be there to deal with illness, but would actively promote good health by running programmes promoting better knowledge and understanding of a range of issues, Ms Mzamane said.

The centre would provide mainly education and training for prospective parish nurses in three stages. If the whole venture is successful it will make a difference for how sick people are treated, especially if nurses are qualified and work collaboratively with community health workers, said Ms Mzamane.

security guard of the Love of Christ Ministries (TLC), a Church-based organisation that provides refuge and accommodation for children with HIV/Aids, died after being shot several times at close range with a paintball gun at the premises in Eikenhof, south of Johannesburg.

TLC director Thea Jarvis said Macson Makado, 54, who had been with TLC for several years, was found seriously injured by her son Rhys.

Mrs Jarvis said the TLC property had over the previous three months been targeted by criminals in the area, who have already stolen children’s bicycles, lawnmowers and garden implements.

She said Mr Makado was one of two guards patrolling the property on alternate nights, with her son personally augmenting existing

patrol duties between midnight and 04:00.

On the night of the attack, Mrs Jarvis said friends of her son were leaving around 01:30, and the guard was not available to let them off the property.

She said her son sensed something was wrong, investigated and found Mr Makado sitting on his chair “in a very bad state” after being attacked.

Mr Makado was taken to Baragwanath Hospital where he died of his injuries.

Mrs Jarvis explained that the paintball gun, which fires marblesized paint-filled bullets, is not defined as a firearm under current legislation. It is used recreationally in outdoor fun-filled pursuits by adults. If used at close range it is known to cause serious injuries, she said.

She said her son had given the guard a paintball gun to use in

case of an attack. Police from nearby De Deur are investigating the possibility that criminals had surprised the guard from behind, grabbed the gun from him, and shot him several times at close range with fatal consequences.

De Deur station commander Senior Superintendant Sonja Slabbert said a murder docket had been opened, but no arrests hadbeen made. She said details at the time of going to press were still speculative, as there were no eyewitnesses to the attack.

Senior Superintendent Slabbert appealed to the community of the Eikenhof area to come forward with any information that can assist them in their investigation.

Originally from Venda, Mr Makado lived in Orange Farm. He leaves behind his wife, daughter and four sons.

Climate change needs new values

BY MICHAIL RASSOOL

A

BOUT 300 000 people die every year as a result of natural disasters, such as drought and the spread of disease in Africa, floods in Asia, mudslides in South America, extremely hot summers and bitterly cold winters in Europe, because of climate change, a leading Jesuit has said.

In the Lenten lecture organised by the Jesuit Institute of South Africa, Fr Chris Chatteris SJ said this figure serves to underline the fact that climate change is not something that may happen in a vague and distant future, but is happening.

“Climate change is therefore not a sudden and apocalyptic event like in the movies; rather a slow piecemeal process,” he said.

“This is why we are often sceptical about it. We are like the frog in the slowly heating pot of water, unaware of the danger of a gradual, imperceptible increase in temperature.

“But even if the overall process is drawn-out and widely-spread, when it strikes a particular locality, it can come with a sudden, terrifying and destructive force in the shape of a Caribbean hurricane or an Australian bushfire.”

What does one make of this phenomenon as one stands before God, Fr Chatteris asked. He said it might be helpful to see God as a good parent, whose love will not waver through all of this.

He said perhaps the most difficult thing for parents is when their children’s behaviour becomes selfdestructive—drugs, bad company and other unwise choices, an analogy that can be applied to the environment.

Here, he said, humanity has chosen a consumerist development path, which, while promising a better life for a minority, ultimately creates toxic side effects for all, particularly the poor.

This caring parent reminds humankind that because of their

unparalleled power, ecological stewardship is required of them, Fr Chatteris said.

“Here the Catholic concept of the common good applies not just to humanity, but to all of creation,” he said.

Fr Chatteris reminded his audience that God, who made creation good and who demonstrated this in the incarnation, calls upon humankind to rise to the spiritual challenge contained in the crisis of climate change.

“This is not an airy fairy task; rather very down to earth. It means that everything we do is done with the earth in mind — what electrical goods to buy, choices about travel, about diet, how much we should work and the size and design of our houses.

In the climate crisis, God calls us to a radical reassessment of our spiritual values and a fresh understanding of the very meaning of our lives as human beings,” Fr Chatteris said.

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4

The Southern Cross, March 24 to March 30, 2010

INTERNATIONAL

Pope: Get people back to confession

BY SARAH DELANEY

P

RIESTS today are challenged with the task of drawing the faithful back to confession and assuring them that their true repentance will be met with mercy and compassion, Pope Benedict has said.

In an address to several hundred young priests, Pope Benedict said that “we must return to the confessional” not only as a place to confess sins and receive absolution, but also as a place where “the faithful can find mercy, counsel and comfort, feel loved and understood by God”.

The pope addressed some 700 priests at the conclusion of a course designed to develop their skills as confessors; the course was offered by the Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican court that handles issues related to the sacrament of penance.

Priests are called on to educate their flocks in the “radical requirements of the Gospel” and help them resist “the mentality of this world” and make choices that take courage and are sometimes unpopular, the pope told the group.

The times are difficult and marked by “a hedonistic and relativistic mentality that cancels God from peoples’ lives”. This mentality makes it difficult to “distinguish good from evil and develop a proper sense of sin”, the pope said.

Priests must be particularly good examples in their lives so that Catholics will understand their own sins and find the courage and desire to seek God’s forgiveness, he said.

During the course, Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, spoke to the priests about the challenges and complex situations that confessors are required to handle. He remind-

ed them that the Church seeks to help “even in situations that are humanly so difficult that they seem to have no solution”.

Archbishop Girotti warned that in the case of repeat offenders, who don’t show even a minimal intention to change, absolution must not be granted. However, the priest must be very patient because a conversion is always possible.

Showing that there is a better way to live is always the job of a priest, especially as an antidote to increasing hedonism and selfishness in contemporary society, said Archbishop Fortunato Baldelli, who heads the tribunal as major penitentiary.

“It’s the duty of the confessor to open the consciences of people and make them understand the needs of others, showing them that doing so won’t take anything away from them, but will make them richer,” he said.—CNS

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MAESTRO REMEMBERED: A painting of Baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, is seen on a wall near the house where he was born in the northern Italian town of Caravaggio. A selection of Caravaggio’s work is on display at the Scuderie del Quirinale building in Rome, celebrating the work of the Baroque master on the 400th anniversary of his death.

PHOTO: ALESSANDRO GAROFALO, REUTERS/CNS

Cardinal’s GM food warning

BY CAROL GLATZ

G

ENETICALLY modified food crops could be used as “weapons of infliction of hunger and poverty” if they are managed unjustly, the head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has warned.

Cardinal Peter Turkson said that he would urge an attitude of caution and further study of the possible negative effects of genetically engineered organisms.

Under Cardinal Turkson’s predecessor, Cardinal Renato Martino, the Justice and Peace council sponsored several conferences on genetically modified food as a way to alleviate hunger in poor countries.

Agri-businesses and biotech industries that produce genetically modified organisms are justified in wanting to recoup the expenses laid out for research and development, and they have a right to want to make a profit from their work, said Cardinal Turkson, who

took over the reins of the council in January.

But the issue becomes problematic when a company that controls the use of genetically modified seeds and crops is motivated more by profit than by “the declared desire to want to help feed humanity”, he said.

There are also doubts about the efficacy and long-term effects of genetically engineered crops, he said. Given the disputed claims and doubts, “I think that we should go easy and probably satisfy all of these objections to the full satisfaction of those who raise these objections”.

The biggest concern is how small farmers are affected, he said.

Some critics say genetically modified crops could breed further dependence by small farmers on corporations who supply the seeds. Because of the companies’ control over the patented seeds, “what is meant to alleviate hunger and poverty may actually in the hands of some people become really weapons

of infliction of poverty and hunger,” Cardinal Turkson said.

“Everybody is for the advancement of science and everybody is for the improvement of human conditions and livelihood through the products of scientific research.”

If further research and study on the effects and impact of GMOs could alleviate people’s fears and concerns, he said, then maybe “everybody can come on board to fashion food security for the world”.

The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano said that the Vatican has never pronounced an official position supporting or opposing genetically modified foods.

However, the paper said it was not a coincidence that in 2009 the use of genetically modified food crops grew by 13% in developing countries and that GM crops covered almost half of the world’s total arable land, and yet “the number of hungry people in the world has for the first time reached 1 billion people”.—CNS

‘Keep homilies to eight minutes tops’

BY CAROL GLATZ

H

OMILIES should be no longer than eight minutes—a listener’s average attention span, according to the head of the Vatican’s synod office.

Priests and deacons should also avoid reading straight from a text and instead work from notes so that they can have eye contact with the people in the pews, said Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops.

In a new book, The Word of God, the archbishop highlighted some tips that came out of the 2008 Synod of Bishops on the Bible. The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, reproduced a few passages from the book.

The archbishop wrote that

it’s not unusual for preachers to recognise that they have lessthan-perfect communications skills or that they struggle with preparing homilies. Everyone should spend an appropriate amount of time to craft a wellprepared and relevant sermon for Mass, he said.

He said Pope Benedict starts working on his Sunday homilies on the preceding Monday so that there is plenty of time to reflect on the Scripture readings from which the homily will draw.

Archbishop Eterovic praised an initiative by the archdiocese of Paris, called “Improving Homilies”, that has been offering courses and guidelines for priests and deacons Among the guidelines’ many helpful suggestions, he said, is that “the homily in general

should not go over eight minutes—the average amount of time for a listener to concentrate”.

A preacher would do well to find inspiration from not just the Bible, but from the newspaper, too, so that the homily can address the current concerns facing the world or the local community, he said. A homily can also offer ideas for what people can do after Mass in the way of prayer, readings, and activities at home, work or in society to help carry out Gospel teachings.

Homilies can be written out, Archbishop Eterovic said, but a preacher should work from brief notes or a bare outline that lets him follow the logical path of his talk while still being able to engage and look at the congregation.—CNS

Holy Land priests face three daily traps

BY EVANS CHAMA

T

HREE traps threaten priests in the Holy Land, said the chancellor of the Latin patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Mgr William Shomali addressed priests and seminarians at the launch of the book, Priests of Christ in the Church for the World, published by the Salesian Institute of Theology in Jerusalem to mark the Year for Priests.

“The temptation of turning stones into bread” said Mgr Shomali, “is the lure of turning

the Church into a welfare organisation” when it is solely reduced to solving material problems of the Christians.

Power is another trap in the country where a priest is recognised as “a leader even by the civil authorities since the time of the Ottomans”, strengthened by various church-owned institutions. In Jerusalem alone, he pointed out, “the Orthodox Church and the [Franciscanheld] Custody of the Holy Land own more than 1 000 housing units”, occupied mostly by Christians.

A “ghetto attitude” is the third pitfall when a priest becomes inward-looking and ignores members of other churches and religions, the monsignor said.

Mgr Shomali described the book as a “masterpiece and nourishing for the priests in the Holy Land, as anywhere else” and suggested to use it as a workbook for the forthcoming renewal course for the young priests in the patriarchate.  The book costs about R120 an can be obtained from secretary.ratisbonne@gmail.com

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, March 24 to March 30, 2010

5

How to deal with Church’s sex abuse crisis?

BY CINDY WOODEN, SARAH DELANEY& JOHN THAVIS

L

OVE, honesty and devotion to Christ are essential for facing the crisis in the Church and in the priesthood caused by cases of clerical sexual abuse, an Australian archbishop has said.

Since the 1990s, when the scandal first broke, “everyone has learned that several points are crucial: care for the victims, following the law, dealing effectively and decisively with perpetrators, making sure we have proper procedures in place to safeguard children and backing up what we believe with our actions”, said Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide.

The archbishop is a long-time participant in what is known as the Anglophone Conference, an international group of bishops and Church child protection officers who have met annually for almost 20 years to identify effective strategies for combating and responding to clerical sexual abuse.

“We must be humble and accept the pain of the present moment as the horrible realities are revealed,” he said during a break in a theological conference on the priesthood.

More than 500 cardinals, bishops and priests gathered at Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University for the opening session of the conference sponsored by the Congregation for Clergy to mark the Year for Priests.

The clerical sex abuse scandal was mentioned only in passing the first morning of the conference when an Italian sociologist said the scandal in the United States has not appeared to have had a negative impact on vocations.

Bishop Gerhard Müller of Regensburg, Germany, where the

Archbishop Gerhard Müller of Regensburg, Germany, and Honduran Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga both rejected suggestions that clerical sex abuse is linked to obligatory celibacy.

PHOTOS: PAUL HARING, CNS

latest scandal has involved the diocesan cathedral’s famous boys’ choir and school, was one of the main speakers on the opening day of the conference.

He told reporters it was “stupidity” to believe that celibacy caused clerical sexual abuse. Any priest who sexually abuses a child has placed himself outside of the priesthood, even before the Church acts to formally dismiss him, he said.

Honduran Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa told reporters. “There is no relationship between celibacy and paedophilia”.

“I do not see how there can be a connection between celibacy and abuse because there are also abusers found among those who are not celibate. It’s just that people don’t hear about it.”

The cardinal, who holds degrees

in clinical psychology and psychotherapy, said the Catholic Church “must compensate victims, not just with money, but with real assistance”.

M

eanwhile, Vatican officials are concerned that the Church’s long-standing insistence on confidentiality in its treatment of priestly sexual abuse cases is being misinterpreted as a ban on reporting serious accusations to civil authorities.

As past episodes and accusations of abuse have come to light recently in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, media attention has focused in part on what kind of guidance or instructions local bishops received from the Vatican on how to handle such cases.

An increasingly widespread impression—and a mistaken one, Vatican officials say—is that Pope

Church ‘unfairly singled out’

BY MICHAEL KELLY

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SENIOR Irish bishop criticised the singling out of the Catholic Church for mishandling allegations of child sexual abuse.

Bishop Christopher Jones of Elphin, chairman of the bishops’ Committee for Family and Children, said 95% of abuse happens within families and that people are afraid to talk about it.

“The Church is being isolated.

Some people are being extremely unfair and unjust towards the Church. The cover-up of child abuse has gone on throughout society.

“We bishops have made terrible mistakes when it comes to child protection, but we know the overwhelming amount of child abuse takes place in families, and families cover that up too,” he said.

Bishop Jones added, “for the first time now victims all across the board are being given the chance to speak out and be heard”.

Irish Catholics were awaiting a pastoral letter from Pope Benedict to address the issue of clerical abuse after the Church was rocked by two judicial reports which found that bishops and religious superiors put the avoidance of scandal ahead of the welfare of children.—CNS

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Benedict himself, when he headed the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation, ordered bishops not to inform civil authorities about accusations of sexual abuse by priests.

The minister’s reference was to the 2001 document, De delictis gravioribus (“On more serious crimes”), which gave the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith juridical control over how the Church handles cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests. It was seen inside the Vatican as an important tool in making sure perpetrators were discovered and brought to justice.

But much media attention has focused on the fact that the 2001 document said such cases were covered by “pontifical secret”, which meant they would be handled in strict confidentiality. Critics saw that as a way for the Church to hide accusations from civil authorities.

Vatican officials said it was important for people to know that the confidentiality imposed on the Church’s internal handling of abuse cases does not exempt bishops or others from reporting serious facts and accusations to civil authorities.

They emphasised that the Vatican document dealt with how Church law treats such cases, not as a substitute for civil law, which deals with the crime separately.

“The purpose of ‘pontifical secret’ here was to respect the rights of the accused and of witnesses, including the victim, to confidentiality,” said one informed Vatican official. He said civil law often has similar provisions to protect confidentiality when a potential crime is under investigation.

“But this is an ecclesiastical law.

It does not affect the duty to obey civil law,” he added.

The official said the Vatican has never given bishops directives against cooperation with competent civil authorities. On the contrary, he said, the Vatican expects local bishops to comply with laws that mandate reporting of sex abuse allegations.

T

he Vatican has also responded to a German report about a priest accused of sexually abusing a child who was allowed to return to pastoral work in the archdiocese of Munich and Freising at the time Pope Benedict XVI was archbishop.

The Vatican press office said in a brief statement that the archdiocesan official who made the decision at the time had taken “full responsibility” for the decision.

The archdiocese said that in 1980, then-Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger was involved in the decision to let the priest stay at a rectory in Munich while undergoing therapy after the accusation surfaced. The archdiocese said that later vicar-general Fr Gerhard Gruber, allowed the priest to return to pastoral work after therapy and that the future pope was not involved in the decision.

Pope Benedict was archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977-82.

The priest returned to ministry until early 1985 when new accusations of sexual abuse were made, the archdiocese said. On January 29, 1985, he was suspended from the priesthood and in 1986 he was convicted of sexually abusing minors.

The archdiocese also said the priest was relieved of his duties at the parish when Archbishop Reinhard Marx, who was installed in 2007, decided the priest should not remain in parish work.—CNS

6

The Southern Cross, March 24 to March 30, 2010

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The Southern Cross, March 24 to March 30, 2010

7

Celebrating the life of Pope John Paul II As the Church marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II. MICHAIL RASSOOL looks back at the life of the pontiff who led the Church for 26 years.

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PRIL 2 marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II, who had one of the longest pontificates at 26 years. Many commentators say he led the Church through a significant period of modern history by sheer force of personality. Some say he restored or renewed the Church's prestige and fostered an appreciation of Catholicism worldwide.

Commentators say the Church may have been in disarray when he became pope, and through his personality and travels he made many people, even those who were not Catholic, aware of his view of Christ’s message.

Some say that before his pontificate began on October 16, the Church had become trivialised in the face of modern popular culture, especially in respect of its views on sexuality, which went against the grain.

Pope John Paul, they say, did everything he could, using modern means at his disposal—especially media—to show that there was far more to the Church than that, even if it meant that, for many, the Church became embodied in him.

The only Polish pope to date and the first non-Italian one in more than 400 years, this pontiff was the most widely travelled and widely acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century.

Many hold that he was instrumental in ending communism in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe, and significantly improved the Church’s relations with

Judaism, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Church. He was both criticised and praised for his firm, orthodox stances on contraception and the ordination of women as well as his support for the Second Vatican Council and its reform of the liturgy.

Someone whose path crossed with Pope John Paul’s on numerous occasions was Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, archbishop of Durban.

He spoke of the legacies, innovations and significant trends set by the pontiff.

Pope John Paul attached tremendous significance to the Synods of Bishops, at which he used to emphasise the Church’s universality, he said.

Cardinal Napier praised Pope John Paul’s role as the Church’s “chief public relations officer” in cementing stronger relationships between the Church and the world.

This was expressed in reaching out to other denominations and faiths and making the Church’s position clear on current affairs and significant issues debated on the world’s stage.

The cardinal referred to Pope John Paul as an internationalist whose strategy of bringing the Church into the modern world was partly to instil in people a sense of the dignity of the person, and to recognise God in him or her.

Another quality the pontiff was distinguished for, Cardinal Napier said, was his accessibility.

He said visitors to Rome, whether Church figures from abroad or people from other significant sectors, were encouraged to visit him. Pope John Paul embraced the importance of getting to know people personally, the cardinal said.

He said the bishops on their obligatory Ad limina visit would have had an opportunity to have lunch or to dine with the pope, where the fare was simple and the atmos-

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phere homely.

The cardinal also spoke of Pope John Paul’s reaching out particularly to the Church in parts of the world where it is regarded as “of secondary importance”.

He said whatever people might have thought of his position on women and their role in the world, the pope saw to it that women’s voices were heard in the synods he convened in Rome. Knowing well the dominant voice of men in these forums, he would organise special preliminary meetings for women to hone their input, thus illustrating his sensitivity to their needs, Cardinal Napier said.

“It was under Pope John Paul that appointing women to exalted positions in the Vatican increased,” he said.

He said any discussion about the pontiff would be pointless without speaking of his special relationship with youth, relating to them almost as a caring parent, and showing them that he cared, fully realising that the future of the Church is in their hands, an approach that guaranteed their love and commitment.

All this, he said, was self-evident at the World Youth Days held in different countries from 1986, a project that was very close to his heart.

Cardinal Napier also spoke of Pope John Paul's successor, Pope Benedict XVI, a different personality and a clear and deep thinker with a particular facility for expressing the most abstruse concepts in the simplest, yet very intelligent terms.

He said perhaps the late pontiff may not have shared the same quality in his writings, but the range of his subjects was phenomenal, as he held a position on most issues, especially those governing human life.

The cardinal said the transition from one pontificate to the other was good. Here, he said, the successor, who was part of the

A special Southern Cross memorial edition was published when Pope John Paul died. inner sanctum, knew the form, content, and essence of papal life, and certainly that of his predecessor’s.

He could simply take over, without any cataclysmic occurrences that might have followed a long and successful pontificate, Cardinal Napier said.

However different their personalities, he said, the two popes were essentially the same in their ideas, although their emphases may differ.

They were both, for example, touched by the Church in Africa, shared a deep, spirituality and, as it turned out, both related well to youth.

8

The Southern Cross, March 24 to March 30, 2010

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Why was Jesus killed?

W

HY was Jesus crucified?

The short answer resides in the resentment and fear of the religious establishment of the day, which allowed no theological dissent to its jurisdiction or challenge to its authority. And it resides with the savage justice of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who condemned Jesus not only to death by crucifixion, but also to merciless torture before his execution in a bid to deter others from making proclamations that may threaten Rome’s political hegemony.

Historians may debate the minutiae of the events leading up to the crucifixion, but it is evident that Jesus was perceived to be a real threat.

His rhetoric, of course, was provocative—declaring himself to be a king of any kind was not going to be well received by the religious and political authorities. This was the hook on which the Sanhedrin (the religious court) and Pilate could condemn Jesus.

But it was not only the possibility of the Nazarene spearheading a physical uprising that exercised his enemies, but the notion that Jesus would instigate a revolution in the hearts and minds of people— as he has done ever since.

Jesus was a subversive and a dissident. He consorted with sinners and with despised tax collectors; his inner circle included peasants and fishermen who were not versed in the finer points of social etiquette. He challenged the priests and broke religious taboos. He spoke of things the lower classes were not supposed to concern themselves with. By chasing the moneychangers from the Temple, he accused the religious establishment of hypocrisy. He opened the gates to God’s kingdom of which the high priests had considered themselves gatekeepers.

And in a society which put people to death for what we now would regard as minor transgressions (if at all), he communicated a message of

love and forgiveness.

Even today, Christ’s message is subversive. He stands with the powerless in a world that still seeks profit and power. His message of love is radical in a world still governed by hatred and indifference to suffering.

Alas, that message of love often remains unheard even among Catholics when they react to the distress of others with apathy, and when they fail to show one another, never mind people of other creeds, much charity.

This can be evident in parishes where people are jockeying for position or subtly denounce their pastors, and in the corridors of high ecclesiastical office when differences of opinion are not addressed by charitable discourse but by injurious reaction.

Catholics can be particularly lacking in love for neighbour when defending their faith and doctrines. There are times when Catholics behave not as Christ would, but like the Sanhedrin, pronouncing judgments and insisting on the sanctions of the Church’s law when Christ’s way is loving correction.

Often we see in those with whom we disagree not fellow individuals existing with us in unity and community in Christ, but as ideological enemies. Even in matters on which there is agreement among Catholics, such as abortion, differences in nuances occasion rancorous and unChristian discourse.

So often, love—which must not to be confused with affection — is missing even in the Body of Christ.

As we look at Our Lord on the cross, we prayerfully meditate on the reasons for his crucifixion. We give thanks for his ultimate victory over death.

And as we do that, we should also examine our conscience.

In everyday life, how much do our actions resemble those of Christ, and how much do they reflect those of the Sanhedrin, Pontius Pilate, the triple-denier Peter, or even Judas?

The Editor reserves the right to shorten or edit published letters. Letters below 300 words receive preference. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances and at the Editor’s discretion. Name and address of the writer must be supplied. No anonymous letter will be considered.

Praise for Southern Cross sellers

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OUR Parish of the Month feature features parishes that excel at selling of your excellent Catholic publication.

I buy The Southern Cross every weekend if it is available, but am frequently frustrated by the nonarrival of latest issues to our Good Shepherd parish in Hartebeespoort, NW province. So is our dili-

gent Southern Cross promoter Manfred, who encourages fellow parishioners to buy the newspaper every Sunday as they leave Mass.

Could you not equate sales volumes to size of parish? For some less affluent parishes, the R5 price could represent a goodly portion of their weekly food bill.

Loz Hayden, Hartebeespoort

Another Reformation?

Abuse in families

H

AS it reached the point that the world needs a second Reformation?

The first was caused by the “selling” of indulgences by the Church. This second Reformation could well be as a result of the criminal paedophile action of so many ordained clergy in the United States, Ireland, Germany, Holland and now in South Africa, and the arrogant refusal of Church authorities overseas to strip the offenders of their office or even accept resignations where these have occasionally been offered.

I am continually embarrassed and appalled at the almost daily reports in the press and on television. Surely I am not the only one.

How do we get His Holiness to understand our anger and huge disappointment in the manner he is dealing with the matter?

We need someone with the courage of Martin Luther to stand up and say “no more”. We would not need 95 Theses; just one would do to “protect and respect the children in your care”.

Spare a thought, too, for the many wonderful priests who have a shadow cast over them by their fellow deviant priests.

Denise Gordon-Brown, Randburg

Pen pal wanted

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AM a born-again Zimbabwean Catholic aged 40, and have served three years of a 10-year sentence at Pollsmoor Correctional Service Centre in Cape Town.

I am looking for a pen pal aged 45-80. My interests are Gospel music, human relations, reading books and magazines and The Southern Cross. I hope to find a friend.

My address: Section B5, Private Bag X4, Tokai, 7966.

Naison Sikaruva

I

T is with distress that I have read of abuse of children by clergy, especially since a priest is seen as one who is going out of his way to be holy and morally correct.

I understand that priests account for one quarter of one percent of all child abuse—a quarter percent too much, yes, but what of the other 99,75%? Married men are said to account for most of this figure, mainly fatheron-daughter abuse.

Yes, let us stamp out abuse by clergy. But let us also look at the dreadful abuse involving family members and close friends.

R Sheldon, Cape Town

Not for sale

O

N February 21 I attended Mass at a Gauteng church. When I tried to buy a Southern Cross after Mass. The gentleman concerned refused to allow me to buy a copy of The Southern Cross advising me in front of a number of bystanders that they were on sale for regulars only.

To say the least, I was totally shocked. Surely if you are offering such a facility, you make allowances for visitors.

When the offertory collection is taken up, is that also only for “regulars”?

Errol Pollitt, Johannesburg

Homosexuality not ‘cultural’

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OUR report “Church silent on Uganda’s anti-gay law” (December 30 to January 5) refers.

The response by the secretary of the Ugandan bishops’ conference, Mgr John Baptist Kauta, to the country’s proposed anti-gay law is silly. Though probably a feature of all cultures across all ages, homosexuality has not been a “traditional culture” anywhere, except possi-

 The Southern Cross team is always profoundly appreciative of the many people, usually unknown to us, who participate in the social communications apostolate by promoting the newspaper in their parish. The Parish of the Month feature is a way of expressing that appreciation. The selection of the featured parishes does take into account the size and location of parishes. If parishes would like to pay tribute to their Southern Cross sales team, we will gladly publish a photo of them.—Editor

bly in ancient Greece.

What has happened is a growing tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality in many countries — a far more Christian approach, I think, than marginalising, imprisoning or even executing homosexuals.

Comments like those of Mgr Kauta dodge the issue and give tacit approval to an inhumane law.

Miranda Voss, Cape Town

Out of tune

M

Y daughter left South Africa a year ago for a two-year work/study holiday in England.

On arrival there she contacted the local Catholic Church and priest near to where she was residing. A competent organist, she was prepared to offer her services to help with choir duties.

The parish priest informed her that she needed a police clearance from South Africa, and would have to appear before the Church council before permission would be granted. She is still waiting for the priest to contact her.

With the recently revealed abuses and the cover-ups committed by the Catholic Church worldwide, should I be surprised that she now attends Mass and sits in the pew and cringes?

No one plays the organ, no singing. Do we all have to pay the price?

Glenn Muller, Strandfontein Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate. Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

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PERSPECTIVES

A feast misplaced

Toni Rowland

Family Friendly

Reflect, repent, rejoice

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OTSWANA seems to consider itself rather an orphan child in the region of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, and the diocese of Francistown most of all because it is the furthest away.

I happened to be in the vicariate to attend a workshop at Kanamo Centre, so when the bishop invited me to present a family workshop I was keen to experience the people and the situation there.

Family life in Botswana is not really that different from the situation in South Africa. It moves towards materialism and individualism, family-break up, single parent families, teenage pregnancy are very real problems all over Southern Africa, more so than in countries north of us, where it seems that family cohesion and family values are still more apparent.

Should I be saying “still” as if it is only a matter of time before the “wicked West” catches up with everyone? Should we be focusing mainly on the negative aspects of family life?

In the Parish Family Ministry workshops that I run, it is hard to resist that situation. Yes, we do know and do acknowledge that there are big issues around morality. President Jacob Zuma’s suggestion of a moral dialogue tends to elicit a laugh when mentioned in any group.

But that can also be an excuse to avoid looking deeply into ourselves during these last days of Lent and the start of Holy Week. Ask not just what sacrifices I have made for Lent, but in what ways have I reflected and repented of unacceptable behaviour.

In a reflection and sharing session during our Botswana workshop there was some of that reflection on repentance and the ongoing need for this. At the same time I believe Catholics can also be overloaded with guilt. Those the priest preaches to on Sunday are generally the converted who, at the risk of being judgmental, are not the greatest sinners.

Admittedly during these days we do reflect on the sufferings of Jesus, for our sins too, but there is also a need to focus on our strengths and positive qualities—Resurrection stuff.

Whenever I pray the Stations of the Cross with families and groups I make a point of including a 15th Station as a reflection on the positive, on hope in the face of desolation, which sadly is all too common in many family relationships.

The paschal mystery lived in families can be a very meaningful reflection, simplified of course for different types of family situations.

This is part of the Family Hour concept.

The whole of Holy Week as well as Easter Sunday—and Easter Monday too, as Family Day in South Africa—provide a range of experiences for reflection from affirmation. The people wanting to make Jesus a king, but Jesus showing himself as a different kind of king, humbly riding on a donkey. The false accusations, physical distress, a mother accompanying a child on an extremely painful journey, helplessness, desolation and exquisite joy such as Mary Magdalene experienced when Jesus met her in the garden on Easter morning…

The Trouble with Catholics, the MARFAM booklet prepared for reflection during the Lent and Easter season, also picks up some of these ideas. For Catholic families the paschal mystery is not just “head stuff” but real heart stuff, the stuff of life, ideally constantly renewed life.

I believe that the Botswana family life representatives with whom I spent the weekend did pick up some of that message, for their own families and for their parishes.

Whether they’re as hooked into the “Families Play The Game” motto as we South Africans are becoming was not too clear. The April-Easter theme is “God’s game plan”, one that should not be kicked into touch over the next months, else we’ll really be offside, or perhaps red-carded and then left to warm a bench, not even a church bench.

My wish for all families, of all kinds, is an Easter filled with joy resulting from a new encounter with the Risen Lord.

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I

WONDER why the feast of the “Divine Mercy”, based on the revelations reported by the Polish nun St Faustina Kowalska, is placed within the octave of Easter, celebrated on the second Sunday of Easter.

Easter is paramount in the liturgy of the Church, the climax of the Triduum, showing God’s tremendous love, sacrifice, power and glory. It is the joyful celebration of the Resurrection, proclaiming the Risen Lord who saves his people. Alleluia!

Certainly, the Divine Mercy has many theological implications, such as divine love, divine forgiveness and (in lower case letters) divine mercy. These implications may deserve special attention, but I wonder if they should supersede the feast of Easter itself.

Easter is more than “divine mercy”; it is about God’s power and glory. It is more than Christ forgiving; it is Christ living, the Risen Lord. Easter is more than pardoning; it is creating a whole new world. Ultimately, it reveals God as Love, not simply in terms of mercy to humanity, but as Trinity, the Father gloriously raising his Son with the Breath of Life.

The Risen Lord, seen by the apostles and many others, is considered an apostolic norm of revelation. Faustina’s revelation of Divine Mercy is not the same. It is purely private. Here mercy, qua misericordia, implies miseria, misery, sin, where mercy is shown. The Divine Persons are more than mercy. They are love, with or without sinful humanity.

Faustina’s revelation should not impinge upon the apostolic revelation of Easter. One cannot help but wonder at Pope John Paul II’s decision of inserting another feast into the Easter Octave. Furthermore, how much is St Faustina’s vision culturally comparable to the One incarnated in an Afro-Asian womb, “out of Egypt I called my son” (Mt 15:2)?

I do not wish to take Pope John Paul to task. Still, history proves that some papal decisions were as questionable as they were well-intended.

Pope Sixtus V in 1590 promulgated his own translation of a Bible with errors (Editio Sistina). Pope John XXIII in 1962 promulgated Veterum sapientia, declaring that students were to be taught in Latin. It didn’t work.

All papal documents are to be taken seriously, in virtue of the Sacred Office. Like Peter, however, the pope is human and can be mistaken, unless he speaks ex cathedra.

A fortiori, bishops can make questionable decisions as well at times, as the International Commission on English in the Liturgy possibly might have done before and could do again. We are a Church, Eclessia docens, Eclessia

Allan Moss OMI

Point of Debate

The Southern Cross, March 24 to March 30, 2010

9

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

Fundamental idolatry General Intention: That every tendency to fundamentalism and extremism may be countered by constant respect, by tolerance and by dialogue among all believers.

HIS is a timely intention. Religious fundamentalism and extremism are often a reaction to secularism, but are also thought to thrive in poverty, deprivation and humiliation.

With the world economy still recovering from recession we can anticipate an increase in fundamentalism’s violent zealotry.

Economic hardship and festering political situations could produce more car bombs and suicide terrorism. The longer a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is delayed, the more entrenched both sides become. Afghanistan and Pakistan seem set for a long conflict along their mutual border, destabilising both countries. In Somalia political factions are trying to out-radicalise each other in their interpretation of Islam and eliminate one another.

Fundamentalism and extremism appear in unexpected places, and we Christians should be aware of its potential even to infect the essentially non-violent religion of Christ crucified. Bishop Richard Williamson’s extremist Holocaust-denying views are a timely reminder of this.

The economy also spawns fundamentalisms which claim that there is no alternative but to follow this or that economic theory. The result is that the economy is no longer for people, but people are sacrificed to the idol of the economy.

All fundamentalism, religious and secular, is ultimately a form of idolatry, in which we make a false god out of a religious creed, a political system or an economic theory and then shed blood for it. Let us pray that this era of fundamentalism through which we are passing, may end soon, thanks to the efforts of all believers.

T

A painting depicting Jesus of Divine Mercy is held up during Pope Benedict’s Regina Coeli prayer last April. discens: Church teaching and Church learning. And so one wonders at the inclusion of St Faustina’s private vision into the apostolic revelation and celebration of the Easter octave.

My young friend Angelina was turning pages in her mother’s Liturgical Calendar for Southern Africa 2010.

She was looking at the pictures of Jesus, showing him as a black African.

What puzzled Angelina was that the other pictures of Jesus in the house showed him as a white European— especially the one of the Divine Mercy in her mother’s bedroom.

In the mind of the child, and perhaps in our minds, who is the real Jesus? Is he like a chameleon and changes his skin?

My criterion would be what the apostles saw. Jesus’ complexion must have been dark and sun-burned from desert, sea and sky, and hair wellblown in the wind. The apostles saw the same body after the resurrection, and recognised him.

Who knows why Jesus appeared to St Faustina in a pale form, with what looks like blow-dried hair? Maybe a theological compromise is the answer.

Maybe we just should not theologise.

Experience shows it can lead to liturgical confusion.

Members of my family and Angelina’s are devotees of Divine Mercy. It helps them live their faith well. I have a preference for other devotions in the Church. We all have our own inspiration and God-given space.  Fr Moss is a pastor in Pietermartitzburg

Persecuted Christians Missionary Intention: That Christians persecuted for the sake of the Gospel may persevere, sustained by the Holy Spirit, in faithfully witnessing to the love of God for the entire human race.

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S a faith we’re quite modest about our martyrs. Every year very large numbers of Christians are killed, beaten, raped, burned out of their houses and chased away from their lands.

In Orissa State, India, this happened on a large scale in 2008. The world media hardly noticed it.

One can think of other religions which would have made a much bigger fuss than we do. The fact that persecuted Christians tend to turn the other cheek, plus the idea that it’s all right to push Christians around because they are associated with the West, results in the persecution of Christians being sometimes acceptable and often invisible.

Amazingly in an era of universal human rights, some countries have legalised anti-Christian persecution, for example China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Eight states in India have passed anti-conversion laws. In other places religious discrimination is illegal but openly practised.

Though persecution of Christianity often contains a core of hatred for the faith, political and economic factors are almost always involved. In India, Hindu fundamentalists object to the lower castes converting, because it upsets the social and political status quo.

How should we respond? Perhaps we’ve never quite worked out exactly how to turn the other cheek, or the Lord’s astonishing prayer for his crucifiers. They are both powerful and challenging statements of truth, and carry a moral and spiritual force which transcends violence.

We should also remember Jesus’ reply when struck across the face during his trial—he challenged his assailant to justify himself, confronting him non-violently with the power of truth.

So as well as forgiving and praying for the persecutors of our brothers and sisters, we are also entitled to put the same question on their behalf: ‘If they did something wrong, then testify to the wrong. If not, then why do you persecute them?’

ATTORNEYS NOTARIES CONVEYANCERS www.ohagan.co.za

For personal and professional attention Please allow us to help you with  Estate and financial planning  Wills, trusts and deceased estates  All property transfers Call Sharon or Sean, 011 361 6050

10

FAITH

The Southern Cross, March 24 to March 30, 2010

A penitent behind a metal sculpture of a crown of thorns and a cross takes part in a procession on Palm Sunday in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.  Pope Benedict dries the feet of one of 12 priests from the diocese of Rome during the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper in the basilica of St John Lateran.  A wooden cross is carried along 42nd Street during the Good Friday Way of the Cross in New York.  Easter lilies and a white cloth lie in an empty tomb, signifying the risen Christ.

PHOTOS FROM CNS

With Pope Benedict through Holy Week Holy Week “Holy Week, which for Christians is the most important week of the year, gives us the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the central events of the Redemption, to relive the Paschal Mystery, the great Mystery of faith.”

General audience, April 8, 2009 The Holy Week liturgies are not simply “a remembrance of a past reality… Even today Christ vanquishes sin and death with his love. Evil, in all its forms, does not have the last word. The final triumph is that of Christ, of truth and of love.”

General audience, April 4, 2007 “Before God, we shouldn’t take refuge in pious phrases, in a fictitious world. To pray always signifies struggling with God, too.”

Palm Sunday, 2009 “Aware that we are sinners, but trusting in divine mercy, let us be reconciled with Christ in order to experience more fully the joy that he gives us with his resurrection.”

The grace given through the sacrament of reconciliation “is a source of interior and exterior peace and makes us apostles of peace in a world where, unfortunately, divisions, suffering and the dramas of injustice, hatred and violence continue.”

General audience, April 12, 2006 “Let us prepare to live the Holy Triduum intensely, in order to share ever more deeply in the Mystery of Christ. We are accompanied in this itinerary by the Blessed Virgin who silently followed her Son Jesus to Calvary, taking part with deep sorrow in his sacrifice and thus cooperating in the mystery of the Redemption… Together with her we shall enter the Upper Room, we shall remain at the foot of the Cross, we shall watch in spirit beside the

dead Christ, waiting with hope for the dawn of the radiant day of the Resurrection.”

General audience, April 8, 2009

Palm Sunday “[Jesus] did not come as one who destroys; he did not come with the revolutionary’s sword. He came with the gift of healing…

Jesus shows God as the one who loves and demonstrates his power as the power of love.”

Palm Sunday, 2008 “[Following Christ] involves the fundamental decision to no longer consider efficiency and profit, career and success as the ultimate purpose of my life, but to recognise instead truth and love as the authentic criteria.”

Palm Sunday, 2007 “Poverty in the sense of Jesus…presumes above all an inner freedom from the greed of possessing and the thirst for power. This inner freedom is what is needed to overcome the corruption and greed that today are devastating the world.”

Palm Sunday, 2006 “Sacrifice and renunciation belong to the just life. Whoever promises a life without this continuing gift of self is fooling people. No successful life exists without sacrifice. When I look back on my personal life, I have to say that precisely the times when I said ‘Yes’ to a sacrifice were the greatest and most important moments of my life.”

Palm Sunday, 2009

Holy Thursday “Holy Thursday constitutes a renewed invitation to give thanks to God for the supreme gift of the Eucharist, to receive with devotion and to adore with living faith.”

General audience, April 8, 2009

Holy Thursday reminds us “to continually purify our memory, sincerely forgive one another, wash the feet of one another” to be able to gather around the Lord’s banquet.

Holy Thursday homily, 2008 “Day after day, we are covered in filth of every form, empty words, prejudices, abridged and distorted wisdom; multiple forms of half-truths or blatant lies continually infiltrate our hearts. All of this darkens and contaminates our soul, threatening us with the inability” to discern or strive for the truth and the good.

Holy Thursday homily, 2008 For Judas “only power and success are real; love does not count. And he is greedy: money is more important than communion with Jesus, more important than God and his love. He also becomes a liar, a double-crosser who breaks with the truth. [He] hardens, becoming incapable of conversion…and throws away his destroyed life.”

Holy Thursday homily, 2008

Good Friday “If Good Friday is a day full of sorrow, it is therefore at the same time a particularly propitious day to re-awaken our faith, to consolidate our hope and courage so that each one of us may carry our cross with humility, trust and abandonment in God, certain of his support and his victory.”

General audience, April 8, 2009 “We have relived the tragic event of a man unique in the history of all times, who changed the world not by killing others but by letting himself be killed as he hung from a cross.”

Way of the Cross service, Good Friday, 2009

INVITATION

“Christ’s death recalls the accumulated sorrow and evils that weigh upon humanity of every age: the crushing weight of our death, the hatred and violence that still today stain the earth with blood. The Passion of the Lord continues in the suffering of human beings.”

General audience, April 8, 2009 “We cannot be just spectators in the Way of the Cross”, which is an ever-repeating reality but reflects “all of humanity’s sufferings today”.

Way of the Cross service, Good Friday, 2006

Easter Vigil “The sombre silence of Holy Saturday is a prelude to the joy of the Easter Vigil, with its proclamation of Christ’s victory over sin and death, the gift of his grace in the sacrament of baptism and the renewal of our baptismal promises.”

General audience, April 4, 2007 “It is true: In the solemn Easter Vigil, darkness becomes light, night gives way to the day that knows no sunset.”

Urbi et orbi Easter message, 2008

Easter “We who have risen with Christ through baptism must now follow him faithfully with holiness of life, walking toward the eternal Easter, sustained by the awareness that the difficulties, struggles, trials and sufferings of our existence—including death— can no longer separate us from him and his love”.

Regina Coeli prayer, Easter Monday, 2009 “Only a God who loves us to the extent of taking upon himself our wounds and our pain, espe-

Christ’s resurrection “is neither a myth nor a dream, it is not a vision or a utopia, it is not a fairy tale, but is a singular and unrepeatable event” that brings light to the dark regions of the world. The “sense of emptiness, which tends to intoxicate humanity, has been overcome by the light and the hope that emanate from the Resurrection.”

But while the resurrected Christ vanquished death, “there still remain very many, in fact, too many signs of its former dominion.”

Urbi et orbi Easter message, 2009 Jesus’ resurrection “gives us the certainty that despite all the darkness in the world, sin will not have the last word. Strengthened by this certainty, with greater courage and enthusiasm we can commit ourselves to the birth of a more just world.”

General audience, April 12, 2006  Compiled and edited by Günther Simmermacher

Do you feel God’s call to serve him through education of girls, women and servants, social and pastoral work and the poor?

on the fist Sunday after Easter, that is Sunday 11th April, 2010 at Mass celebrated at 15.00hr.

Fr Stan 083 468 6985 Edith 082 495 2879 Rona 083 450 6300

“From the risen Christ, all those who are still oppressed by chains of suffering and death look for hope, sometimes even without knowing it. May the risen Christ grant that the strength of his life, peace and freedom be experienced everywhere.”

Urbi et orbi Easter message, 2006

“LORD I do not merit to be used by you, but I wish to do all that you desire.

I am ready to go anywhere” (Mother Anne De Xainctonge’s words)

Feast of the Divine MercyMercy of God,

Enquiries:

“The astonishing event of the resurrection of Jesus is essentially an event of love: the Father’s love in handing over his Son for the salvation of the world; the Son’s love in abandoning himself to the Father’s will for us all; the Spirit’s love in raising Jesus from the dead in his transfigured body.”

Urbi et orbi Easter message, 2008

URSULINES OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

The Divine Mercy Parish, Walkerville, delights in God’s Mercy and invites all people of goodwill to come and celebrate the

Priests will be available for confessions between 12 noon and 14.30hr prior to the Mass.

cially innocent suffering, is worthy of faith.”

Urbi et orbi Easter message, 2007

JOIN US CONTACT: Ursuline Convent Box 212 Libode 5160, Eastern Cape Tel: 047 555 0018 Cell: 084 9030879

The Vocation Directress or Ursuline Convent Box 25 Park Rynie, 4182 Tel: 047 555 0018 Tel: 039 976 0143 Cell: 072 958 2111 or 084 410 1207

The Southern Cross, March 24 to March 30, 2010

Thoughts for the Week on the Family FAMILY CALENDAR: 2010 FAMILY THEME: “Families Play the Game.”

MARCH: Keep to the rules March 25, The Annunciation. It is necessary to examine the laws of the land in relation to the laws of God. Many people think that because abortion is legal in South Africa it is OK. That is not the case. Legal is not necessarily moral. Discuss.

March 28, Palm Sunday. One could think of Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week as a big political jamboree. The people wanted to make him king. He chose a humble path.

Knowing the risks he was taking he chose to speak out against injustice and even taunted the rulers, overturning the money-lenders tables and preaching in the temple.

During this week we also read the account of his weeping over Jerusalem, knowing that their way was leading to destruction. Jesus’ Kingdom that we are called on to continue to build is one of love, justice, truth, peace and freedom.

Consider those values as a family.

ST THOMAS CATHOLIC CHURCH, MOSSEL BAY

Mass readings for the week Sundays year C, weekdays cycle 2 Sun March 28, Palm Sunday: Is 50:4-7; Ps 22:8-9.17-20.23-24; Phil 2:6-11; Lk 22:14—23:56 Mon March 29, Holy Week: Is 42:1-7; Ps 27:1-3.13-14; Jn 12:1-11 Tue March 30, Holy Week: Is 49:1-6; Ps 71:1-6.15.17; Jn 13:21-33.36-38 Wed March 31, Holy Week: Is 50:4-9; Ps 69:8-10.21-22.31.33-34; Mt 26:14-25 Thur April 1, Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper: Ex 12:1-8.11-14; Ps 116:12-13.15-18; 1 Cor 11:2326; Jn 13:1-15 Fri April 2, Good Friday: Is 52:13 — 53:12; Ps 31:2.6.12-13.15-17.25; Heb 4:14-16, 5:7-9; Jn 18:1— 19.42 Sat April 3, Holy Saturday, Easter Vigil: Gn 1:1—2:2; Ps 104:1-2.5-6.10.12-14.24.35 or 33:4-7.1213.20.22; Gn 22:1-18; Ps 16:5.8-11; Ex 14:15—15:1; Ps Ex 15:16.17-18; Is 54:5-14; Ps 30:2.4-6.11-13; Is 55:1-11; Ps Is 12:2-6; Bar 3:9-15.32—4:4; Ps 19:8-11; Ez 36:16-28; Ps 42:3-5, 43:3-4; Rom 6:3-11; Ps 118:1-2.16-17.22-23; Lk 24:1-12

Sun April 4, Resurrection of the Lord: Acts 10:34.37-43; Ps 118:1-2.16-17.22-23; Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6-8; Jn 20:1-9 or Lk 24:1-12

COMMUNIT Y CALENDAR BETHLEHEM:  Shrine of Our Lady of Bethlehem at Tsheseng, Maluti mountains; Thursdays 09:30, Mass, then exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.  058 721 0532 RUSTENBURG  Eucharistic adoration every Thursday at St Peter’s, Tlhabane, 18:00 .Tel 014 565 5152. All welcome JOHANNESBURG:  First Saturday of each month rosary prayed 10:30-12:00 outside Marie Stopes abortion clinic, Peter Place, Bryanston.  Joan Beyrooti, 782 4331

VINCE RAYNE, PPC CHAIRMAN, WRITES: I am at present updating the history records of our little Church and all buildings and wondered if any of your readers had any “old” pictures or articles of interest that could perhaps be used by me in the publication. If individuals appear in the pictures kindly, if possible, supply me with their names as well.

I can be contacted at PO Box 10274, Dana Bay, 6510 (082 328 2567)

REMEMBERING OUR DEAD “It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins” (II Macc XII,46) Holy Mass will be celebrated on the first Sunday of each month in the All Souls’ chapel, Maitland, Cape Town at 2:30pm for all souls in purgatory and for all those buried in the Woltemade cemetery.

For further information, please contact St Jude Society, Box 22230, Fish Hoek, 7975 Telephone (021) 552 3850

PRETORIA:  First Saturday: Devotion to Divine Mercy. St Martin de Porres, Sunnyside, 16:30.  Shirley-Anne 361 4545.

CAPE TOWN:  Quiet Day of Prayer at Springfield Convent, Wynberg, last Saturday monthly 10.00-16.00.  Jane 021 790 1668 or Veronica 083 254 6174.

Classified Advertising Please include payment (R1,05c a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000. Tel 021 465 5007 Fax 021 465 3850 e-mail: advertising@scross.co.za

DEATH

THANKS

HINKS—Jackie. It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of Jackie Hinks, Director of Thandanani Centre, Brothers of Charity Services, Florida.

She dedicated her life to the members of Thandanani, a residential facility for the psychiatrically disabled, and was tiresome in her fundraising efforts.

Jackie will be remembered and missed by all who knew her.

GRATEFUL thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Our Mother Mary, Ss Joseph, Anthony, Jude and Martin de Porres for prayers answered. RCP.

IN MEMORIAM ARENDSE—Martin.

Passed away 23 March, 1983. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

Fondly remembered by Jacoba and family.

MÜLLER—Victor Jude (Ikey).

05/03/1948— 30/03/2007.

Seasons come, seasons go, petals fall though flowers grow and when I doubt love lifts a hand and scatters stars like grains of sand.

Remembered with much love by his wife Lillian, brothers, sisters and their families.

OPPEL—Fr John Lawrence.

Passed away 28/3/1993.

Always lovingly remembered by families and friends and the congregation of St Francis de Sales, Namaqualand. Rest in peace.

PILLAY—Mrs Johanna. In loving memory of our dear mother who passed away March 31, 2001 in Springbok, Namaqualand. “A loving mother gone to rest, for all of us she did her best”.

Rest on, dear mother.

Always remembered by

Entries in the community calendar, which is published as space allows, are free of charge. To place your event, call Gene Donnelly, 021 465 5007, or email gened@scross.co.za

VALLEY VIEW TRAVEL CHRIST THE KING PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY LAND & CAIRO 25 September - 2 October Including all the most popular sites such as Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Galilee in the Holyland as well as St Catherine’s Monastery and Mt Sinai in Egypt

Organised by Amber Ellie Spiritual Director Rev Derek Harris Cost R18 780

Tel: (031) 266 7702 Fax: (031) 266 8982 Email: judyeichhorst@telkomsa.net A list of current pilgrimages can be viewed by clicking on the Valley View Travel icon at www.catholic-friends.com

11

your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, daughter-in-law, friends, families, not forgetting The Legion of Mary, Namaqualand.

SMITH—Ted. Died March 28, 2006. Thank you for more than 50 years of love and caring and for your special smile. The years have gone by so quickly and I miss you more all the time. Till we meet again, love from your wife Carmen and all your family.

SMITH—Michael. Died April 23, 2007. You were a dear son and brother and much admired and respected for the work you did for the HIV-positive people. Loved and missed by your mother Carmen and siblings.

PRAYERS “HOLY St Jude, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. In return I promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen.”

RCP

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HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION AZARS B&B — Olde worlde charm in Kalk Bay’s quaint fishing village. Luxury double en-suite/private lounge/ entrance. DStv/tea/coffee.

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Enjoy breakfast at different restaurant every day (included in tariff). Holy Mass Saturdays/Sundays within walking distance.

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Holy Mass celebrated every Sunday at 6pm.  022 451 2650.

EAST LONDON—Cambridge. St Pius Pastoral Centre. Affordable facilities for conferences, workshops, meetings, and retreats. Plus budget accommodation. Secure parking. Tel/Fax 043 721 3077, 082 455 6609. Email: stpiuspet@telkomsa.net FISH HOEK—Self-catering accommodation, sleeps 4.

Secure parking.  021 785 1247.

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Tel/fax 021 782 3647, email: alisona@xsinet. co.za GORDON’S BAY: Beautiful en-suite rooms available at reasonable rates.

Magnificent views, breakfast on request.  082 774 7140. E-mail: bzhive @telkomsa.net.

GORDON’S BAY—Selfcatering unit on the top of the mountain. Spectacular views, tranquil, peaceful and relaxing, a get-away second to none, Sleeps 4, R950 per day, please try us; you will be back again!  Dawn 021 8561977, 082 2140281 KNYSNA—Self-catering garden apartment for two in Old Belvidere with wonderful Lagoon views.  044 387 1052.

MARIANELLA Guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of God with us.” Fully equipped with amazing sea-views, secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation, Special rates for pensioners and

clergy.  Malcolm Salida 082 7845675 or mjsal ida@mweb.co.za MONTAGU, Rose Cottage—A luxurious selfcatering “home away from home”; stylishly decorated, the “coolest” place in town!

Sleeps 6. The most peaceful surroundings, mountain views, www.rosecottage montagu.co.za or e-mail: info@rosecottagemon tagu.co.za or  Christa at 084 409 0044 PEACEHAVEN Holiday Flats, Scottburgh. Selfcatering accommodation with magnificent sea views. We offer 24-hour security, secure parking, 6 DStv channels, a laundromat and braai facilities on the premises. Threeminute walk to main beach and shops. Special pensioner rates during low season periods.  039 9761344/ 9783400; Fax 039 9781476. Email peac ehaven@scottburgh.co.za PIETERMARITZBURG— St Dominic Guest House.

Beautiful old house recently renovated, adjacent to Dominican Priory, Chapel and Conference Centre, near the University and ashopping mall. Self-catering, fully equipped kitchen, safe parking and Internet access. Sleeps 8 in single and double rooms.  033 345 2241, 033 845 9103, 083 301 3354, Fax 033 345 2246, guesthouse@ zaop.org SANDBAAI/HERMANUS— Relaxing weekend away.

Reasonable rates. Contact Jacqui Ferreira.  082 924 5807 SOUTH COAST—3 bedroom house. Marine Drive, Uvongo.  Donald 031 465 5651, 073 989 1074.

STELLENBOSCH: Five simple private suites (2 beds, fridge, microwave).

Countryside-vineyard/ forest/mountain walks; beach 20min drive. Affordable.

Christian Brothers  021 880 0242 cbc - stel@ mweb.co.za STRAND—Beach-front flat to let. Stunning views.

Fully furnished and equipped. Garage, one bedroom, sleeper couch in lounge. R375 per night for two people.  Brenda 082 822 0607.

THE GARDENS Guest House, situated in Norwood, Johannesburg. 7 luxurious en-suite double/twin rooms each with a TV (DSTV) and tea/coffee facilities. Close to shops and restaurants and all major business districts. Includes full breakfast, laundry, 24hr security, billiard table, kitchen facilities, pool and more. Contact Robyn on 083 673 6687 or www.garde nsguesthouse.com UMHLANGA ROCKS: Fully equipped self-catering 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house, sleeps 6, sea view, 200 metres from beach, DStv.  Tina, 031 561 5838 WILDERNESS—Selfcatering house, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms.

Sleeps 8/10, indoor braai, pool table, DStv. Contact Julia, e-mail progalu@ netactive.co.za TThe Southern Cross is a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations of South Africa. Printed by Paarl Post, 8 Jan van Riebeeck Drive, Paarl. Published by the proprietors, The Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Co Ltd, at the company’s registered office, 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town, 8001.

Pregnant?

Help is as near as your telephone

March 24 to March 30, 2010

011 403 1718 031 201 5471

SOUTHERN AFRICA’S NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY SINCE 1920

www.birthright.co.za Donations and volunteers and prayers always welcome

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Easter Sunday, Year C (April 4) Gospels: Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-9 EXT Saturday night and Sunday morning, as we come to the climax of our Lenten journey, we have a wonderful set of readings.

If you are at the Midnight Mass, you will hear the great sweep of the lectionary through the history of our salvation, and the story of God’s people. But space prohibits us from considering all of this rich tapestry of the word of God, so what I’d like to do this week is to look at the Gospel readings for the day. (At Midnight Mass, you will hear the account from Luke’s gospel; during the day, it will be the version from John’s gospel.)

Luke’s gospel is set in brightness, and so it is that the narrative starts “on Day One of the Sabbaths, in the deep dawn”, as the women come to the tomb, “carrying the spices that they have bought”.

This means, of course, that they did not believe in Resurrection; you can’t anoint a body that is no longer there. Bravely, they go into the tomb to perform their task, but fail to find a body. Instead, “Look! Two men stood over them, in lightning-white clothes”. We do not need to be told that

N

A big surprise for Mary Magdalene!

Fr Nicholas King SJ

Scriptural Reflections these are angels, but just in case we did, we see the women “becoming fearful, and bending their faces to the ground”. They are then gently rebuked, because they were “seeking the living along with the dead”.

Then comes the Easter proclamation— that which makes Christianity what it is: “He is not here. No, he is risen.” They are then reminded of Jesus’ own words, that he “had to be handed over to human sinners, and be crucified; and on the third day, rise”.

The women remember the words, and go rushing off to “the Eleven” (Judas is no longer of the Twelve), and report what has happened. As women have been told down the ages, “these words of theirs seemed

nonsensical, and they did not believe the women”. Peter, whom we last saw denying that he had ever heard of Jesus, goes running to the tomb, sees the evidence, and “went home, astonished at what had happened”. Does he believe it? Luke does not say.

John’s narrative of that Sunday morning also happens on “Day One of the Sabbaths”, but it is “in the morning, while it was still dark”. Mary Magdalen (don’t ask where the men are just now) goes to the tomb, and sees the stone has been taken away from the tomb. Now it is her turn to run, “to Simon Peter, and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved”, and to them she reports the situation: “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him.”

Now some more running takes place; Simon Peter and the “other” disciple get to the tomb, but not in that order. They see the grave-cloths lying there, and the “sweatcloth” which had been on his head, not

A pricy hot line to God A

FEATURE of air travel is that it allows you at best to make new friends, or at worst an enemy or

two.

Occasionally, of course, one can manage an entire ten-hour flight without saying a word to your fellow passenger, but that’s highly unlikely because the mere clashing of elbows on that tiny armrest will inevitably break the ice with: “I’m terribly sorry…no it really was my fault…no, I insist you use the armrest… really, I always sit with my arms folded under my chin while I turn the pages of my book with my knees…well, that’s kind of you thanks very much, yes I am going to Frankfurt as well...so you’re in the gas reticulation business, how interesting…five children, wow… no, I must confess I have never fished for bass with a pillowcase and a dead chicken”—and so on, until you know each other like lifelong bosom buddies.

Apart from a 275kg Congolese woman who sat next to me all the way from Paris to Kinshasa clutching two live chickens to her ample bosom while bemoaning the decline of the Congolese franc and the state of the economy in francophone Africa, the most fascinating person I’ve ever met on a plane was a fellow journalist called Oswieki from Warsaw.

He decided to hitchhike around Europe in the late 1990s and his first port of call was Rome and Vatican City.

As luck would have it, when he mentioned his nationality to the papal press office he was granted a rare interview with the pope, who of course was one of the world’s best-known Poles.

Chatting away to the pontiff in his

CONRAD

083 640 5848

Chris Moerdyk

The Last Word spartan office, he was struck by the grandeur of the telephone. It was a huge ornate gold instrument which stood out like a beacon in the dim surroundings.

The pope saw him admiring it and proudly told him that it was his “hotline to God”.

Oswieki shook his head in disbelief, so the pope suggested he pick it up and prove it to himself. Sure enough, he got straight through to God, and after a chat of about three or four minutes he hung up, his mouth agape and his eyes as wide as saucers.

His mind whirled as he formulated the article he would eventually write and with which he would hold Time magazine to ransom for a fee so big he would be able to retire to the Bahamas for a life of luxury and much vaunted westernstyle debauchery.

H

e was so taken aback, he couldn’t remember the rest of the interview; all he was aware of was leaving the Vatican only to be collared by the pope’s equerry who handed him a phone bill for the equivalent of about R5 000 while at the same time warning him that if he’d ever write a story about his experience, lightening would strike him stone dead.

Poor Oswieki. It wiped out his life’s

savings and his dreams of debauchery in one fell swoop. He had to wash dishes in a dingy spaghetteria in the backstreets of Fiumicino for two months to save up enough to continue his travels.

Five months later found Oswieki just south of Kerry in Ireland, traipsing through the rain looking for a bus-shelter or anywhere dry to spend the night.

As he passed a tiny church, the parish priest, hurrying home from a quick postfuneral Bushmills at the local pub, took pity on the weary traveller and invited him into the tiny presbytery to share another slug of whiskey to warm him up.

Oswieki couldn’t believe his eyes, because there on a rough-hewn deal table in the sparse little room was that same, huge, ornate telephone.

He gagged as the Bushmills coursed its way down his throat, and asked if that great telephone was perhaps a hotline to God. “Sure and begorrah it is, my son,” said the priest. “Would ye be after having a little talk to the Almighty by any chance?”

Oswieki spluttered the Polish equivalent of “not on your Nelly” and explained to the somewhat perplexed padre that while he would dearly love to have a chat to God, he just didn’t happen to have the equivalent of R5 000 on him.

“What are you blathering on about, you silly Polish git,” said the priest. “It’ll cost you only 35 pence for the call.”

“But when I used the pope’s phone, it cost me a fortune,” argued Oswieki.

“Well now, me boy,” said the priest.

“This isn’t Rome; this is Ireland…it’s a local call from here, you see.”

lying with the grave-cloths but rolled up apart in one place”. The point of this, of course, is that we are not talking here about grave-robbers, or of the disciples’ having stolen Jesus’ body: the robes on the body would not have been left in that way if the corpse had been stolen.

Finally, and on behalf of us all, after Peter has been graciously allowed to enter first, “the other disciple, the one who had arrived first, went into the tomb. And he saw. And he believed.” The evangelist adds a characteristic comment: “They had not yet grasped the Scripture, that it was necessary for him to rise from the dead”.

But there is more; what has happened to Mary Magdalen? She does not reappear in next Sunday’s gospel, but I ask you to go to John chapter 20 and read verses 1018, the heart-rending account of Mary’s encounter with her Risen Lord. It does not appear as a Sunday reading.

Remember, Mary Magdalen was the “apostle to the apostles” with regard to Jesus’ Resurrection.

Southern Crossword #383

ACROSS 3. Like a church crammed with people (5-4) 8. A go-getter holds it expectantly (4) 9. How rugby player changed his faith? (9) 10. Embrace not quite tenfold (6) 11. Do those in 6 down express it? (5) 14. He’s famous for the award (5) 15. Mount of Jerusalem (4) 16. Characteristic spirit of those (5) 18. Periods of history (4) 20. It refers to what they have (5) 21. He’s one of the gypsies (5) 24. Infirmary (6) 25. He or she is academic head (9) 26. Escape and desert (4) 27. Print teen arrangement for what’s relevant (9)

DOWN 1. He’s not on time for Mass (9) 2. He follows ancient Chinese thinker (9) 4. Monk’s cowl (4) 5. Convent loses NT among the witches (5) 6. Greek goddesses of vengeance (6) 7. Isle of untruths (4) 9. The other saint of Assisi (5) 11. Not quite detached from having felt pain (5) 12. In which Moses was discovered (5,4) 13. Deprived cleric of his status (9) 17. Sort of life the artist may paint (5) 19. Sent on one written

by Shakespeare (6) 22. A line for the foreigner (5) 23. What a fact is (4) 24. First of the murderers (4)

SOLUTIONS TO #382. ACROSS: 4 Abigail, 8 Laughs, 9 Steward, 10 Wanton, 11 Animal, 12 Sisterly, 18 Atlantis, 20 Strand, 21 Wonder, 22 Company, 23 Severe, 24 Dentist. DOWN: 1 All-wise, 2 Furnish, 3 Shrove, 5 Betrayal, 6 Gawain, 7 Inroad, 13 Readings, 14 Studied, 15 Usurper, 16 Strove, 17 Lappet, 19 Abodes.

CHURCH CHUCKLE F you’re growing old, and one day you fall, you Ithere. wonder what else you can do while you’re down They say wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.

Send us your favourite Catholic joke, preferably clean and brief, to The Southern Cross, Church Chuckle, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.