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Zuma honours slain Catholic
Vatican chastises cardinal
An itinerary for the afterlife
Priests: This was our World Cup
www.scross.co.za
July 7 to July 13, 2010 Reg No. 1920/002058/06
No 4683
SOUTHERN AFRICA’S NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY SINCE 1920
Pope names new curial heads
Inside Pfanner priest dies at 80 Fr George Lautenschlager CMM, the postulator of Abbot Francis Pfanner’s sainthood cause, has died at the age of 80.—Page 3
BY JOHN THAVIS & CINDY WOODEN
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Priests beaten, shot at A priest was abducted and tortured in Mexico and another survived an assassination attempt in the Philippines, but both have vowed to continue their activism.—Page 4
The forgotten Africa While the world’s attention has been on Africa for the past four weeks, there are many forgotten tragedies on the continent, writes Henry Makori.—Page 9
What do you think? In their Letters to the Editor this week, readers discuss organ donation, a high-profile South African-born priest, treatment of homosexuals, religion as a problem, the Divine Mercy, and Catholic musicians.—Page 8
This week’s editorial: Mission accomplished
The executive mayor of Dihlabeng, Chetane Mofokeng, holds the South African flag as Mr L Mepha tightens a knot during the mayor’s visit to Nativity church in the township of Bethlehem in the Free State. Mr R Mohapi and parish priest Fr Mokhesi Mokhesi look on. The visit was preceded by a procession through the centre of the township. At the Mass, vuvuzelas were incorporated in the chanting of hymns. PHOTO FROM MAFELESI JOSEPH MABUYA
FIFA rebuffed the Church A little cheer for the Italian team after the Azzuri equalised against Paraguay. PHOTO: GÜNTHER SIMMERMACHER
‘Parishes can fix Italy’s soccer woes’ BY SARAH DELANEY
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R5,00 (incl VAT RSA)
F today’s kids would just turn off their electronic games and kick the ball around in the parish playground, Italian football might have a future. That was the suggestion in a commentary in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano following the humiliating firstround elimination of the Italian team in the World Cup. The commentary, under the headline “Let’s throw out the PlayStation and get back to the parish playground”, said Italy’s national squad—the defending world champions—lacked preparation, strategy and especially a deep roster of great players. The solution in the past, L’Osservatore said, has been to turn attention to the younger generations playing in the oratorio, the parish playground where countless Italian professionals have developed their football legs. The local parish playground is a familiar place in the hearts and minds of many Italians. Older Italian films often depict a strict but goodhearted priest playing ball with his young wards, cassock flying as he runs in the church courtyard. “But today’s kids have PlayStation, they don’t go to the oratorio to play football anymore,” the commentary said. “How are they going to become players, and some, maybe, even champions?” Turning off electronic games would be a start, L’Osservatore said. More training and less emphasis on foreign players in order to build on the local talent is also necessary, it added.—CNS
BY MICHAIL RASSOOL
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HE priest tasked with coordinating Church’s pastoral initiatives coinciding with the football World Cup has expressed dismay over the attitude of the football federation towards the spiritual dimension of the tournament. Salesian Father Francois Dufour told The Southern Cross that FIFA rebuffed efforts by the Catholic Church to cooperate with the organisers in making players and fans aware of the Church’s pastoral initiatives, especially in parishes located near to the stadiums. The priest said this meant that the Church could not serve the spiritual needs of travelling fans and players—many of whom could be seen blessing themselves with the sign of the cross on the football field—as much as it would have liked to. Several priests across South Africa said that Catholic World Cup visitors to their parishes had come mainly as a result of their own quest for a church closest to their accommodation or the stadium, or were referred by local fellow Catholics. Sacred Heart cathedral in Pretoria, for example, left its doors open for 24 hours as a perpetual resource to visitors, hiring security services to guard the premises throughout, but the visitors hardly came. “Under the circumstances, we as Church have done the best we can,” he said. The priest pointed out that FIFA’s attitude towards local religious chaplaincies differs markedly from that of the International Olympic Committee, which provides facilities for prayer and actively facilitates religious support for athletes who want it. Austrian Salesian Father Bernhard Meier has been chaplain to his country’s elite athletes for 28 years. He ministered to the Austrian team at this year’s Winter Olympics in Canada and came out to South Africa for the World Cup partly to avail his services to athletes and fans where he could. Fr Dufour said probably because nobody
knew of the services he had to offer, Fr Meier, a school principal in a small town outside of Vienna, left South Africa not having ministered to anyone. Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban slammed FIFA’s apparent disregard for a demand for chaplaincy services to the World Cup or any religious dimension that can be associated with sport. Mass attendance was much as it was before, he said, even though at the time of going to press he said much still had to be analysed from the Church’s end regarding the tournament’s impact. FIFA Media, the federation’s communications arm, said the body’s non-response to spiritual needs adheres to its statutes governing “non-discrimination” of any kind. “FIFA therefore can make no distinction between any religions and cannot promote any religion above another during the competition itself,” it said. “However, fans and teams can and do exercise their religious beliefs freely in private during the competition. For example, players often pray in the dressing room, and even sometimes on the field of play before a match.” FIFA said it had not received any complaints from players or teams about such non-provision. Last year FIFA president Sepp Blatter suggested that displays of religious faith be banned from football fields. Cardinal Napier also criticised FIFA’s “bully boy” tactics in its attitude to local businesses, which were debarred from the marketing benefits of the tournament. The cardinal said that no direct special opportunities were provided for informal traders, robbing them of a chance to benefit from the event. “FIFA, it seems, is only interested in money, and will do anything for its designated sponsors.” Fr Dufour said that FIFA will have earned an estimated R24 billion in profits, “while many of South Africa’s poor will remain poor”.
OPE Benedict has appointed new heads of several Vatican departments, including those responsible for bishops and ecumenical dialogue. He appointed the 66-year-old Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec as prefect of the powerful Congregation for Bishops. The office helps the pope choose bishops for Latin-rite dioceses around the world. The pope also named Italian Archbishop Rino Fisichella as president of a newly created agency, the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation (see page 4), and Spanish Mgr Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, a member of Opus Dei, to replace Archbishop Fisichella as president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Swiss Bishop Kurt Koch will succeed German Cardinal Walter Kasper, 77, as president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Cardinal Kasper has headed the council since 2001. Cardinal Ouellet, who succeeds 76-yearold Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, is not a stranger to Rome or to the Roman curia. He studied in Rome and returned to the city to teach in 1996. A year later, he was appointed chair of dogmatic theology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family. In 2001, he was named a bishop and appointed secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and also served on the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. In 2002, Pope John Paul II named him archbishop of Quebec, and in 2003 he made him a cardinal. He serves on the Vatican congregations overseeing liturgy, clergy and Catholic education, and is also a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture. Bishop Koch, who will also take over the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, is a past president of the Swiss bishops’ conference, a former professor of dogmatic theology and liturgy and has served as a member of the Christian unity council since 2002. In a letter to Catholics in Basel, Bishop Koch said the pope had stressed that he wanted someone who had both theological knowledge and practical experience in living and working alongside Protestant communities. The pope’s words, he said, demonstrate that improved relations with the Orthodox are not his only concern, but that the pope sees the unity of all Christians as the will of Jesus. Meeting reporters, Cardinal Kasper said that a challenge he faced repeatedly since 2001 was clarifying the Church’s position when the wording of certain documents— from the Vatican as well as from Orthodox and Protestant churches—offended the other partner in ecumenical dialogue. Particularly with the Anglicans and Protestants, he said, since the year 2000 there has been a noticeable loss of “the great enthusiasm” for the possibility of Christian unity that marked the years immediately after Vatican II. “Errors, or better, imprudence in formulating the truth have been committed by both sides, including our own,” he said. The Vatican also announced that the pope was naming Archbishop Celestino Migliore as the new papal nuncio to Poland. Archbishop Migliore had been the Vatican representative to the United Nations in New York since 2002, delivering numerous speeches on international topics and helping to arrange Pope Benedict’s visit to the United Nations General Assembly in 2008.—CNS