The Southern Cross - 100811

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PE beauty queen on her faith

St Peter’s jail opens for public

Celebrate South Africa’s patronal feast

Where the pope goes on holiday

www.scross.co.za

August 11 to August 17, 2010 Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4688

R5,00 (incl VAT RSA)

SOUTHERN AFRICA’S NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY SINCE 1920

Inside

Soaring hope

Using the Internet for good

T

The producers of a popular TV series with a values-driven message are launching a project to help churches to use the Internet more effectively.—Page 3

Anglicans divided on split A group of traditionalist Anglican bishops has admitted that Anglo-Catholic clergy are sharply divided over how to respond to the ordination of women as bishops.—Page 5

Who cares for care-givers?

Conversation on HIV/Aids tends to focus on prevention and research, but those who provide care are often neglected, experts say.— Page 12

Holy stairs and karaoke A Catholic radio presenter led a pilgrimage of listeners to Italy, finding that there is space for the holy and edifying as well as for rock karaoke and green sambuca.—Page 13

Exposing the hoaxes In his weekly column, Chris Moerdyk exposes e-mail hoaxes with which Christians damage their own cause.—Page 12

Youngsters fly kites in Wentworth, Durban, as part of an initiative hosted by Christ the King parish in collaboration with other local churches and organisations. The event followed weeks of gang violence in the area.

PHOTO FROM, MERLIN INCE OMI

What do you think?

In their Letters to the Editor this week, readers discuss parish politics, xenophobia and Samaritans, Johannesburg’s new chancery, incense and Chinese bishops.—Page 8

This week’s editorial: Keep the press free

Pope ‘dropped women’ from Jesus’ friends

P

OPE Benedict has been criticised for not mentioning female disciples in a children’s book about Jesus titled The Friends of Jesus.

The British chapter of the Catholic advocacy group We Are Church said that Pope Benedict highlighted only male disciples in a new children’s book published in his name, saying it implied women are second-class citizens in Christianity.

Pope Benedict is described by the Vatican Information Service as the author of the 48page book about Jesus’ 14 friends who are listed as Peter, his brother Andrew, James the older, John, Thomas, Matthew, Philip, Bartholomew, James the younger, Simon, Judas Thaddeus, Judas Iscariot, Matthias and Paul. However, no mention is made of Mary Magdalene or any other female friends of Jesus, the English daily The Times reported.

Valerie Stroud of We Are Church said: “In giving children the idea that Jesus only favoured men, Pope Benedict sends a very strong message that women are second-class citizens in the Christian religion. This was never Jesus’ intention. The Supreme Pontiff completely abandons the modern idea of equality within relationships.”

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi SJ said the book was put together by an editor but admitted that the pope had sanctioned the use of his name on the cover.

“The Pope has done explicitly a catechism about the many women in the service of the Gospel who were disciples of Jesus and helped him in his life,” he said.— cathnews

HE skies of Wentworth, Durban, heralded a symbol of hope as kites dived and soared from the hands of eager youth.

Coached by the adult men of the community, youngsters went out looking for bamboo and off-cuts of paper and fabric to meticulously create their aerodynamic flying wonders, said Fr Merlin Ince OMI of Wentworth’s Christ the King parish.

“The mentorship which they received from the adults was an affirmation of their potential. As the winds picked up and lifted the kites, the look of awe and wonder in the eyes of these youth was most inspiring,” Fr Ince said.

The event was part of the Winter Holiday Programme, which was hosted by Christ the King parish in collaboration with other churches and non-governmental organisations. About 800 youths took part.

The kite-flying event followed weeks of revenge attacks and murders that had taken place among rival gangs in the area.

“When these kids came together to fly their kites, it was with a sense of letting go and letting what is only natural to happen among youth: to be joyful, to make friends, to live freely,” Fr Ince said.

Easy access to drugs ‘trivialises abortion’

BY CAROL GLATZ

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ROMOTING easy access to RU-486 and other drugs that induce abortion risks trivialising the termination of a pregnancy, according to the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Commercialising abortion medication can turn “an unwanted pregnancy into being almost like an annoying cold to be gotten rid of with a pill,” Mgr Ignacio Carrasco de Paula told the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano in an interview.

The Spanish monsignor, who is also a medical doctor, recalled working in Armenia after the 1998 earthquake. He said many of the women patients he worked with had already had more than 20 abortions and that “for them abortion had become like having a coffee”.

Such a blasé attitude “is a serious phenomenon” that could easily spread to other parts of Europe.

However, indiscriminate use of the abortion pill may increase the number of women who experience post-abortion syndrome, he said.

Mgr Carrasco, who was named head of the life academy in June, said scholars are working on a document focussing on the psychological and emotional aftereffects of abortion because “it is certain that abortion, beside killing an innocent person, weighs heavily on the conscience of the woman who resorts to one”.

The academy will study the impact and nature of the syndrome more in-depth and release its findings and recommendations in a document by October 2011, he said.

“When abortion is being talked about, unfortunately, it triggers many issues that always spark a heated debate, sometimes even within the Catholic world,” Mgr Carras-

People take part in a protest against abortion in Seville, Spain, after changes in Spanish law made it easier for women to terminate a pregnancy. The banner reads: “We want to live.

No to abortion.”

PHOTO: JAVIER BARBANCHO, REUTERS/CNS

co said. He believes the academy’s role is to “always go beyond polemics in order to reflect on every single aspect of the issue, even if it is uncomfortable to face. Internal or external debate does not scare us, rather, it enriches us”.

Mgr Carrasco urged people to at least try to resist the large financial and ideological interests lobbying for pro-abortion legislation. He praised Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega for abandoning his support of limited abortion laws and becoming a strong opponent of abortion.

The academy is also studying the issue of umbilical cord blood banks. While the Church supports the use of stem cells derived from adults and umbilical cord blood, the academy will look at whether public or profit-driven private facilities would better and more fairly conserve and use such cells, he said.

The Vatican has condemned the recent

decision by US regulators to begin using embryonic stem cells in clinical tests on human patients.

The destruction of human embryos involved in such research amounts to “the sacrifice of human beings” and is to be condemned, said the president emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Bishop Elio Sgreccia.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave final approval for a clinical trial of embryonic stem cells as a treatment for patients with spinal-cord injuries, making the United States the first country to allow the testing of such cells on human beings.

Geron Corporation, the company which won the FDA approval, plans to perform tests on a small group of patients paralysed by a spinal cord injury.

The company had won FDA approval early last year, but after mice treated with the cells developed spinal cysts, the government put the clinical trials on hold amid concerns over the safety of the procedure. The new government-approved trials aim to test the therapy’s safety on humans as well as its effectiveness.

In an interview with Vatican Radio, Bishop Sgreccia said science itself recognises the human embryo “is a human being in the making”. Destroying embryos “receives a completely negative judgment” from an ethical point of view, no matter what justifications are given for their use.

The Italian bishop said embryonic stem cells have not been proven to be effective in therapies. He said embryonic stem cells are “totipotent”, that is, they tend to reproduce a whole organism or individual, but not specialised cells.

However, even if there were positive results from the use of such cells, “morally it would still be a crime,” he said.—CNS

2

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, August 11 to August 17, 2010

Fr Stefan Hippler is pictured on a big screen as he addressed the audience at a rock concert by German star Udo Lindenberg in Tübingen, Germany. Fr Hippler, co-founder of the Aids organisation HOPE Cape Town and former chaplain to German-speaking Catholics, received the Herman Hesse award of the Udo Lindenberg Foundation for Young Musicans, which launched a two-year fundraising programme for HOPE Cape Town. Fr Hippler said it was “a different world for a priest” to stand on a stage with rock musicians in front of thousands of screaming fans. “One would wish that reaction after a sermon. It was amazing, thrilling and scary at the same time,” the priest said.

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Using the Internet, TV for good

BY MICHAIL RASSOOL

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HE successful television serial Hopeville made by multi-media production Heartlines, which aims to promote good values in South African society, is to be featured on the big screen next month in theatres across the country.

Heartlines spokeswoman Val Pauquet said the six-part “Hopeville” serial, a story of redemption and hope set in a poor rural town, was so well received that the SABC public broadcaster repeated it.

Heartlines says that audience ratings for the repeat broadcast’s first episode showed that 46% of the audience watching television at the time were tuned into Hopeville, a joint production with the SABC. Ms Pauquet also referred to the eight award-winning Heartlines films depicting good values that were also shown on the public broadcaster, which struck “a resoundingly positive”

chord among South Africans, paving the way for subsequent initiatives.

Heartlines is also engaged in enabling churches to connect to one another and the broader community by using social networking tools, and is the basis for its Forgood “Virtual” Platform and Website project.

Through it churches would be able to promote “Kingdom values” and “values in action”, said Tracey Peppler, who heads up the Forgood team.

Ms Pauquet explained that digital media and social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter are set to become ever more advanced, and even more and more complicated for some. Thus, she said, sights are set on assisting churches and individuals to be informed about “cutting edge” communication tools.

Ms Pauquet said Heartlines is publishing a downloadable practical guide to social net-

working, in which answers to all kinds of questions on the medium will be provided.

“The Forgood web platform will allow people to share information and activities and form groups based on a member's geographical location and interests,” Ms Peppler said.

“Interests can be chosen by the individual and could include among others, environment, HIV/Aids, mentoring, personal finance, religious affiliation and community safety.

“Because it is location-based, when a member accesses the site, a map of the area where that member lives will be available displaying local, useful information and existing activities in the member’s selected areas of interest,” she said.  For more information on Heartlines and its products and programmes, or more information on Hopeville film screenings, Ms Pauquet can be contacted 011 771 2540.

Miss PE: not just a pretty face

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INCE being crowned The Herald Spec-Savers Miss Port Elizabeth 2010, Bianca Harper, 24, has been shining both on stage and in her community.

The parishioner of St James’ church in Schauderville, Port Elizabeth, says the title is not about looking pretty, but rather getting involved in the community.

“It’s hard work, but, it’s a privilege and an honour and has been life-changing.”

Four months into her reign, Ms Harper has been involved in a variety of events, including judging potjiekos competitions and handing out soccer balls at local schools.

She describes her reign thus far as “a humbling experience,” which has presented many opportunities to herself and the community.

Some of the changes she has seen include her parish’s now flourishing youth group. The group was formed to give youngsters in the area a safe and fun environment to spend their Friday evenings. Ms Harper speaks fondly of the positive

Bianca Harper, Miss PE 2010.

PHOTO: FREDLIN ADRIAAN

effects of her achievement, describing how it had already brought her own community closer. A youth leader herself, Ms Harper says her parish has made her feel very special, blessing her while wearing her

sash and tiara the Sunday after being crowned.

The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University masters student of pharmacy has dedicated her reign to raising funds for the Missionvail Care Centre, a local non-profit organisation that provides care and support to the residents of one of Port Elizabeth’s poorest communities.

The centre, founded by Little Company of Mary Sister Ethel Normoyle in 1988, has been close to Ms Harper’s heart.“I wanted to support a charity to which I had a personal affiliation,” she said. She intends to continue to do “whatever possible” to help Sr Ethel’s centre.

Ms Harper has enjoyed getting dressed up for formal occasions but says she has no problem getting stuck in with her various projects and charitable obligations.

“I’m not a model and I’ve never really had the time to enter a pageant. But a friend encouraged me to try and it’s changed my life. God works in mysterious ways and it’s been exciting to see the positive influence this can have on Port Elizabeth.”

Mothers unite to feed hungry kids

BY MICHAIL RASSOOL

W

HEN Carol Jacobs realised that many children in her neighbourhood were not receiving at least one meal a day, she and two other mothers started feeding about 30 children from her mother’s home.

After first feeding only 30 children, the Cape Town Catholic from Retreat is now feeding 350 children between the ages of three and 18 in the Lavender Hill area.

Two years on, the community-based initiative, which arose from a Christian concern about a real social problem in the area, is named Mothers Unite: Let’s Feed Our Children.

Gerry Gordon, a member of its executive committee, said Mothers Unite is often the only expression of care that children see amid grinding poverty and crime.

She said Lavender Hill is characterised predominantly by poverty and crime, and the unemployment level is high.

“The children we serve have many basic needs: physical, emotional, spiritual and educational, and Mothers Unite embraces the children in an integrated manner,” Ms Gordon said.

She said the organisation is

currently running five main projects—a feeding scheme, an Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centre, a library with story-telling, arts and crafts, and sports.

The organisation is based on a piece of vacant land in Lavender Hill provided by the City of Cape Town, which has come on board as a partner.

Ms Gordon said containers have been provided for its library that has computers and an Internet café, its ECD centre and kitchen, which are run by volunteers.

She said the library provides educational support for learners, including basic computer literacy, while arts and crafts encourages creative expression as well as emotional healing.

Sporting and community outreach event promote positive leadership among children as well as responsibility, self-discipline and a sense of camaraderie and self-giving, Ms Gordon said.

She said some of the organisation’s full-time volunteers are from the community itself, while others are either students or individuals giving of their time to do community work.

A patch of the ground is also cultivated as a food garden, which is taken care of by the

community. This promotes sustainable food security in the interests of sustainable development, Ms Gordon said.

Ms Gordon—who serves on the parish pastoral council of St Mary’s in Retreat—said that Mothers Unite gives preference to children who attend school regularly and encourages them to complete their schooling.

The link to St Mary’s is further compounded by having Retreat’s pastor, Redemptorist Father Cecil Dowling, and some parishioners serving on its board and executive committee.

Ms Gordon said the organisation does not focus on adults, but provides support to them by assisting them with basic needs for their children. It also provides opportunities for skills transfer to adult male and female community volunteers who become involved in its work, including basic computer literacy, she said.

Much of Mothers Unite’s funding has come from Breadline Africa, and Ms Gordon said partnerships would hopefully be formed with other stakeholders, especially companies with strong social investment and responsibility portfolios.  For more information on Mothers Unite, contact Ms Gordon on 082 825 0511.

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, August 11 to August 17, 2010

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Service brings support to men, women at sea

BY MICHAIL RASSOOL

A

CONGREGATION at the annual ecumenical service held at the Mission to Seafarers, at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, gathered to offer prayers to those working at sea.

At the service, the congregation heard about the harsh and exploitative conditions that many of the seafarers work under as they travel the high seas on sub-standard trawlers and container vessels, with no recourse for redress. And many are separated from their homes and families for months at a time, the congregation heard.

In his homily, Anglican Rev Beverley Johnson spoke of added environmental hazards such as oil spillage, and other problems such as robbery and piracy.

The service was held on Sea Sunday, an ecumenical day to remember and pray for seafarers, their families and churches’ ministry to them.

Internationally, it was first celebrated in 1975, when the Mission to Seafarers, an international Angli-

can ministry, joined the worldwide Catholic Apostleship of the Sea and the Sailors’ Society (formerly the British and International Sailors’ Society) to hold it annually in port towns and cities across the world.

Other denominations have since come on board.

Kurt and Thea Schönhoff, who are part of a Christian ministry that serves harbour missions across the world, told The Southern Cross they offer several services including counselling, pastoral ministry, giving lifts, referrals, prayer services.

This is “a call from God who wants us to be here,” said Mr Schönhoff, who once worked on a mission ship distributing bibles, said.

The facilities of the Mission to Seafarers, which also incorporates the Catholic archdiocese of Cape Town’s Apostleship of the Sea, include a canteen, recreation room, provisions shop, a library, mail service and Internet services and chapel. The chapel is also used for baptisms and marriages.

The mission has three chap-

(From left) Anglican Rev Beverley Johnson, Deacon Gerald Sobotker, Deacon Richard Croucher and Kurt Schönhoff at the Cape Town service for seafarers.

PHOTO: MICHAIL RASSOOL lains—Scalabrinian Father Gerardo Garcia, Deacon Richard Croucher and Deacon Gerald Sobotker, who is based at the mission. The archdiocese of Durban has its own apostleship.

The Apostleship of the Sea operates in 416 ports around the world, including fishing ports, on all five continents, and its teams include priests and deacons, religious and lay people. It falls under the overall

responsibilities of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People.

Patty Lange, who manages the Mission to Seafarers, told The Southern Cross that she sees her role as a mission, because there is no other place in port where seafarers can go to address their problems.

She said the mission often hears horrendous stories of beatings and bullying from supervisors; how the seafarers, mainly men, are lured with empty promises and find themselves on sea vessels often with no money. Often the mission will organise for a representative of the International Transport Federation to come in to listen to the men’s grievances, Ms Lange said.

“Their gratitude for what we do here is genuine, given that they are so far away from home,” Ms Lange said. The mission receives no funds from outside and supports itself through the nominal amounts.  For more information on the Apostleship of the Sea and the Mission for Seafarers, Deacon Sobotker can be contacted on 021 419 3117.

Special ministry brings The New priests boost Capuchin outreach Southern Cross to the blind BY MICHAIL RASSOOL

BY MICHAIL RASSOOL

B

LIND Catholics in South Africa have the opportunity to catch up with local and international Catholic news thanks to the help of a group of volunteers.

The Catholic group meets periodically and selects important articles from The Southern Cross, which they then record for blind people with an interest in their Church, both locally and across the world.

Veronica Vieyra, parishioner of Christ the King in Pinelands, Cape Town, latched onto the idea while doing recording work and proofreading for Tape Aids for the Blind. It is one of a range of activities she has been engaged in over the years—helping those with special needs. Ms Vieyra regards this as a special ministry.

Since The Southern Cross tape aids service began about five year ago, said Ms Vieyra, requests have come from all over South Africa with special arrangements made with postal services for nominal rates or free postage.

The service has up to seven readers, and the sound has become more technically proficient, with minimal noise, more polished and

a better finish, thanks to the skills of Adrian Kettle, one of their tape aids readers.

Mr Kettle has set up a makeshift studio with soundproof conditions for recording sessions. No longer are headphones required and unlike before readers can sit during recordings.

Ms Vieyra is no stranger to helping those with special needs.

She trained, and for many years worked, as a teacher of deaf children in London, and is known in the Cape Town archdiocese for producing creative catechetical and spiritual material for children and adults with special needs.

It was in this role that she taught catechetics to patients at Alexandra Hospital, a secondary hospital for the treatment and rehabilitation of the intellectually disabled, in Maitland.

She also had dealings with the Helen Keller Society in Pinelands, which provides board, lodging and care to visually impaired people.

The society also provides advice and assistance to people of impaired sight from the surrounding community.  For details on The Southern Cross tape aids service, contact Ms Vieyra on 021 532 0661.

A

NEW Capuchin foundation in Siyabuswa, Pretoria, in which four of the order’s priests from Tanzania have settled and assumed responsibilities as pastors, is progressing well, a priest based at the order’s formation house has said.

Fr Kees Thönissen OFMCap, who coordinated the process of settling the Fathers at St Anthony of Egypt, said the priests are settling in well.

The parish is in a semi-rural area in the north-eastern deanery that was formerly in the possession of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers).

Fr Thönissen said the Swahilispeaking priests are learning Zulu, the main language of the area, to enable them to evangelise their flock better. He said they might also learn Pedi.

He said the four—Frs Odilo Moroso, pastor and guardian of the community, Paul Shewiyo, Benedict Mtena and Ewald Nangay—were formally welcomed at Sacred Heart cathedral by Mgr Abel Gabuza, administrator of the archdiocese.

The process of getting the Capuchins to minister in Pretoria archdiocese began with retired Archbishop George Daniel who had wanted the Capuchins there

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Fr Paul Shewiyo, Fr Odilo Mroso, Fr Benedict Mtena and Fr Ewald Nangay at St Anthony of Egypt church in Siyabuswa, Pretoria. for some time, Fr Thönissen said.

According to Fr Sean Cahill OFMCap, vice-provincial of the Capuchins in South Africa, who facilitated the Fathers’ arrival, the order is renowned for ministering in situations that are challenging.

In a pastoral letter to Pretoria’s Catholics, Mgr Gabuza said the arrival of the new missionaries probably brought relief to Fr Herman Mole, who had been ministering alone to the Siyabuswa community since the White Fathers’ departure. He said with the arrival of the new missionaries the archdiocese would have to restructure

the pastoral work of the whole district around Siyabuswa.

“It will take some time before the four Tanzanian fathers adjust to this new environment,” Mgr Gabuza wrote.

“Some local social, economic and political dynamics may be foreign to them” he said.

Fr Cahill said as part of their pastoral outreach in Siyabuswa, the Fathers would promote vocations. He said the new situation also came about because the Tanzanian Capuchin provincial had also been looking for missionary outreach.

“Eat the Scroll” Rev 10:9 Scripture’s Challenge to Church and Society The Catholic Theological Society of Southern Africa Annual Conference open to all: September 20-22, 2010 St Augustine College, Johannesburg The Spirituality of the Bible  Rt Rev Bishop William Slattery OFM Place and Pilgrimage: The Bible in a Time of Environmental Crisis  Bro Kevin McDonell Crossing I’s? Biblical Spirituality and Human Rights  Prof Christo Lombaard Angels, Suffering and a Collossae Challenge to the Church Today  Fr Gerhardus Hattingh “Beauty and Beast”: Deuteronomy as Benchmark for the Constitution of South Africa?  Fr Martin Badenhorst OP Democratisation of Bible Reading in the Church: An Uncalculated Risk?  Mrs Margaret Mollett A Sharing of Recent Theological Research in South Africa  Chaired by Fr Dr Rodney Moss Conference Fee: Two days R225  One day R175

For cost of meals, accomodation etc contact: Dr Nicky Luyckx on Tel/Fax (011) 463 9093 or e-mail nluyckx@icon.co.za

4

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, August 11 to August 17, 2010

St Peter’s Roman prison rediscovered T

BY CAROL GLATZ

RADITION holds that St Peter was jailed in Rome’s maximum security Mamertine Prison before he was crucified upside down and buried on the hill where St Peter’s Basilica was later built. And now after recent excavations in Rome’s oldest prison, archaeologists say they have uncovered evidence that, while not providing direct proof, does support that belief.

The prison, which lies beneath the church of St Joseph of the Carpenters facing the Roman Forum, was closed for the past year as experts dug up old floors and picked away plaster. They found and restored a 14th-century fresco of Jesus with his arm around a smil-

ing St Peter and an 11th-century fresco of Jesus with the oldest known image of the Campidoglio, Rome’s city hall, behind him.

Patrizia Fortini from the city of Rome’s department of archaeological heritage led the excavation and restoration project. She told journalists they found proof that the site had been a place for venerating St Peter by the 7th century, lending support to historical accounts that he had been incarcerated there.

The prison has two levels: the upper chamber called the “Carcer” and the lower chamber called the “Tullianum”, which was built in the 6th century BC. In the Tullianum, Ms Fortini said, they found “traces of a basin that must have been where water was collected— water which, according to tradi-

tion, sprang forth after St Peter pounded on the stone floor”. Tradition holds that after he miraculously made the water gush forth, he converted and baptised his two prison guards as well as 47 others while he was imprisoned there.

Near the basin, archaeologists found a trough which, centuries later, the faithful may have used to sprinkle themselves with water.

The stone walls had been painted, Ms Fortini said, but time and humidity took their toll. There is only one small fresco left in a dark corner under the stairs. The 9thcentury image, discovered in 2000, shows the outline of the hand of God emerging from a white cloud as he points down towards Earth.

A portion of the marble column, which tradition says Ss Peter and Paul were chained to, stands next to a simple altar.

One of the most interesting finds, Ms Fortini said, was discovering what the Tullianum had been used for in pre-Christian Rome.

Experts removed old brick and wooden floors, digging down to the original stone floor. Scholars had believed the domed prison was a cistern or a monumentalised fountain of sorts. Instead, Ms Fortini said it had been “an ancient place of worship” specifically devoted to a water divinity such as “a nymph of underground water”. They found ancient remnants of votive offerings to the deity, things such as small burned animal bones and floral or vegetable matter dating from between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC.

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rom the ancient pagan Romans to early Christians, “this place was always venerated. It never lost its sacredness”, Ms Fortini said.

It may seem odd, however, that the ancient Romans took a sacred pagan spot for venerating the life-giving

A view of the lower level of the ancient Mamertine prison in Rome. Tradition holds that St Peter was imprisoned here before he was crucified. Archaeologists say that after recent excavations in Rome’s oldest prison they have uncovered evidence that, while not providing direct proof, does support the belief that St Peter was held at the jail, which previously had been a pagan site of worship.

PHOTO: PAUL HARING,CNS and healing powers of water and turned it into a dungeon.

Ms Fortini said the underground water spring also conjured up many negative and dangerous scenarios.

For example, in pagan Rome it was thought the spring provided a direct channel to the netherworld.

Archaeologists found an ancient borehole which “put the inhabited world into contact with the underworld and, therefore, there was the possibility of having contact with the beyond somehow”, she said.

Enemies of the Roman empire were thrown into the watery pit of the Tullianium through a hole in the upper chamber of the Carcer.

Romans believed the prisoners would then be carried away or just disappear into the netherworld—a fate worse than death, she said.

The structure was used as a prison until the 4th century, when Pope Sylvester I officially made it a place of worship and named it “San Pietro in Carcere” (St Peter in Prison) in 314. The church of St Joseph was built atop the former

prison complex in 1598.

The project to study and restore the Mamertine Prison was a cooperative effort of Rome’s department of archaeological heritage, the Rome diocesan Committee for Sacred Art and Cultural Heritage and the diocesan travel agency, Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi.

After the Mamertine Prison reopened to the public at the end of June, the Opera Romana incorporated it into a new tour called “Roma Cristiana Experience”.

Pilgrims hop on a methane gaspowered minibus leaving St Peter’s Square every 20 minutes and take a scenic route through Rome to the Mamertine Prison for a tour.

The tour is meant to help people deepen their faith and recognise the site’s spiritual heritage: its successive conversion from being a sacred pagan spring, to being a dank place of suffering and death, and finally, after St Peter made the waters pour forth, to becoming a place of renewal and rebirth.— CNS

Pope lauds cluster bomb ban P OPE Benedict has praised the 108 nations that have adopted a treaty banning the stockpiling and use of cluster bombs and encouraged other nations to follow suit “for the defence of human dignity and human life”.

The pope said the weapons, which release a cluster of small bombs over a wide area, “provoke unacceptable damage on civilians”.

According to the United Nations, “many cluster submunitions fail to detonate on impact and become de facto antipersonnel mines killing and maiming people long after the conflict has ended”.

After reciting the Angelus with visitors at the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo, the pope expressed the Vatican’s sat-

isfaction with the the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which took effect on August 1, and reiterated his personal concern for “the numerous victims who have suffered and continue to suffer” serious damage “because of these insidious weapons”.

With the ban, he said, “the international community has demonstrated wisdom, farsightedness and the ability to achieve a significant result in the field of disarmament and international humanitarian law”.

The pope said he hoped nations that did not adopt the treaty—including the United States, Russia and China—would adhere to it and that the entire international community “would continue on this path with increasing energy for the defence of human dignity and

human life, to promote integral human development, to establish a peaceful international order and to achieve the common good of all persons and all peoples”.

A commentary issued by the Vatican press office said the Vatican had been a member of the core group promoting the ban and an active participant in the Oslo process, which led to the drafting and adoption of the convention.

In addition, it said, the Holy See was one of the first countries to ratify it, out of a “conviction that the logic of peace is stronger than the logic of war, which, in every case, must have limits that cannot be crossed for the protection and safeguarding of the civilian population, particularly the most vulnerable people”.—CNS

Miracle man to be at Newman beatification

BY SIMON CALDWELL

A

N American who was inexplicably healed from a crippling spinal condition after praying for Cardinal John Henry Newman’s intercession will read the Gospel and serve as a deacon when Pope Benedict beatifies the 19th-century cardinal in September.

Deacon Jack Sullivan of Marshfield, Massachussets, said he was asked to participate in the September 19 Mass by Fr Timothy Menezes, the master of ceremonies for the beatification, when the English priest recently visited the United States.

“I am extremely excited that I

have been asked to assist at the papal Mass as deacon, for it best reflects my simple prayer, ‘Cardinal Newman, help me to walk so that I can return to classes and be ordained a deacon,’” he said.

“For years I suffered as patiently as I could and was rewarded instantly by a simple prayer. I am most grateful now that the Church has seen fit to reward Cardinal Newman as he courageously followed the light of truth.”

Pope Benedict will beatify Cardinal Newman, a 19th-century theologian who founded the Oxford Movement to bring the Anglican Church back to its

Catholic roots, in Cofton Park in Birmingham, England.

Fr Jan Nowotnik, the Birmingham archdiocese’s coordinator for liturgy, said that, besides proclaiming the Gospel, “Deacon Sullivan and his wife, Carol, along with other representatives will form part of a procession that will immediately follow the Rite of Beatification when the new Blessed John Henry Newman is proclaimed”.

Pope Benedict is waiving his own rules to perform a beatification as pope for the first time, instead of sending a high-ranking Vatican official to conduct the ceremony.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, August 11 to August 17, 2010

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If so, we would love to hear from you for our SPECIAL 90TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE in October.

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People stand next to a wooden cross as police guard an area in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw, Poland. Authorities said a cross commemorating Poland’s late President Lech Kaczynski is to be moved from in front of the palace despite protests by Catholic groups and Mr Kaczynski’s supporters. Tens of thousands of Poles have left flowers, lit candles and prayed at the wooden cross, put up outside the presidential palace in Warsaw by a scout group after the April 10 plane crash that killed 96 people, including Mr Kaczynski.

PHOTO: KACPER PEMPEL, REUTERS/CNS

Trad Anglicans divided over split

BY SIMON CALDWELL

A

GROUP of traditionalist Anglican bishops has admitted that AngloCatholic clergy are sharply divided over how to respond to the ordination of women as bishops.

Fifteen bishops belonging to Forward in Faith, the largest Anglo-Catholic group in the Church of England, admitted that the Anglo-Catholic faction of the church could not decide collectively what course of action to take.

They said members faced a range of options in response to the mid-July vote by the General Synod, the church’s national assembly, to create women bishops by 2014 without meeting demands of objectors.

Describing themselves as bishops “united in our belief that the Church of England is mistaken in its actions” they wrote to more than 1 300 Anglo-Catholic priests and deacons who in June 2008 registered their opposition to women bishops in an open letter to Anglican leaders.

The bishops’ letter said it was inevitable that many traditionalists, including some bishops, would take up Pope Benedict’s offer of a personal ordinariate within the Catholic Church.

That offer was contained in the pope’s November apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus.

Under this arrangement

Anglicans can be received into the Catholic Church as a group while retaining their distinctive patrimony and liturgical practices, including married priests.

An application for an English ordinariate, which would resemble a military diocese in structure, has yet to be made by a mainstream Anglican group in Britain.

But the bishops said some Anglicans were already resolved “to join the ordinariate as the place where they can find a home in which to live and proclaim their Christian faith, in communion with the Holy Father, yet retaining something of the blessings they have known and experienced in the Anglican tradition”.

They said: “Of course the ordinariate is a new thing, and not all of us are trailblazers or can imagine what it might be like. Some will undoubtedly want to wait and see how that initiative develops before making a decision. Yet others will make their individual submission and find their future as Roman Catholics.”

Some Anglo-Catholics, the bishops added, would remain in the Church of England “perhaps even reluctantly because of personal circumstances, family loyalties, even financial necessity, but with a deep sense of unease about the long-term future, an unease that is surely well-founded”.

They said such worshippers

“cannot currently imagine themselves being anywhere else but within the Church of England”.

The clergy’s 2008 open letter to Anglican Archbishops Rowan Williams of Canterbury and John Sentamu of York asked the church to make “generous and coherent provision for us” if the synod pressed ahead with plans to ordain women as bishops.

The signatories had sought episcopal visitors, or “flying bishops”, to minister to their members, but the synod rejected this in favour of women bishops agreeing to make alternative arrangements for traditionalists through a code of practice.

In their letter, the traditionalist bishops said that “those of us unable in good conscience to accept that any particular church has the authority to admit women to the episcopate” were now facing “grave times”.

The bishops also warned clergy against infighting.

“It would be a sad and destructive thing indeed if we allowed our unhappiness and wondering to drift into unguarded or uncharitable criticism of those who, in good conscience, take a different path from our own.

“We must assume the best motives in one another, and where there are partings let them be with tears and the best wishes of godspeed,” the bishops said.—CNS

Congo cardinal was ‘a national hero’

P

RESIDENT Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been praised by the country’s Church for proclaiming a cardinal a “national hero”.

The Catholic Church in the DRC is currently celebrating the Year of Cardinal Joseph-Albert Malula (1917-89), an initiative to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the late cardinal’s episcopal ordination and 20 years since his death.

The commorative year began last September and will run until September 20.

Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa said that Cardinal Malula was a source of inspiration for the activity of future generations and politicians, for culture, for the nation and for the Church.

“For his tireless search for excellence and perfection, his

Cardinal Malula (1917-89) lapidary statement, ‘a Congolese Church in a Congolese nation’, for his search for an African conscience…we are grateful to the government for proclaiming Cardinal Albert Malula a national hero,” said

Archbishop Monsengwo.

Celebration initiatives have included a series of conferences on different aspects of the Cardinal’s personality.

“The Cardinal was one of the first African theologians to promote the inculturation of Christian values,” Archbishop Monsengwo told a conference titled “Cardinal Malula, a man of culture”.

“He was an excellent writer, a man deeply committed to the political debate, an avid reader, a great composer of music (he composed many hymns for the Congolese rite), a lover of the arts and an admirer of African cultural values such as matrimony.

“The cardinal left an incommensurable legacy to the Catholic Church in Congo and in the rest of whole world.”— CISA

5

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Keep the press free

S

OUTH Africans must be deeply worried about the mooted statutory Media Appeals Tribunal and protection of information laws which effectively propose to exercise state control over media and the flow of information.

There is little cause to presume that South Africa’s media are lacking in ethics, as the proponents of the tribunal idea seem to suggest. The case of the corruption of Cape Argus reporter Ashley Smith by politicians is significant precisely because it is so unusual. Journalists are scandalised by Mr Smith’s breach of their profession’s codes because most take these ethics very seriously indeed.

There is little need to impose statutory control over a profession that regards its integrity as an inviolable asset. In most democracies, self-regulation through the offices of an impartial ombud works perfectly well. And when it fails, aggrieved parties have recourse to the law, as they presently have in South Africa.

The African National Congress is not being subtle in its plan to impose some control over the media, euphemisms such as a desire “to strengthen media freedom and accountability” notwithstanding.

The suspicion cannot be dismissed that the ANC seeks to create an environment in which it can intimidate journalists and editors who engage in investigative journalism, as well as prospective sources. The proposed legislation and tribunal would help protect the ANC and government from uncomfortable questions about conflicts of interest, arms deals, generally corrupt relationships, dishonest tender processes and dubious hotel bills.

There is no reason why the public should trust the ANC’s protestations that this is not the intention. Even if this is not the purpose for intervention now, it may well be the effect tomorrow.

Moreover, the tribunal and law could be abused to intimidate commentators in the media whose criticism the governing party finds discordant, unfair or otherwise undesirable.

Any legislation that might

compromise the media’s freedom to comment, within the confines of the Constitution, must be opposed by those who subscribe to democratic principles.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church confirms the freedom of the press when it says: “Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, justice and solidarity.” The Catechism urges civil authorities “to defend and safeguard a true and just freedom of information”.

The proposed tribunal could be abused to violate that freedom. Indeed, even the threat of being summoned by the tribunal could result in undue and undesirable self-censorship.

However, journalists and editors themselves have obligations which require periodic revision. The Catechism summarises these ethics: “Journalists have an obligation to serve the truth and not offend against charity in disseminating information. They should strive to respect, with equal care, the nature of the facts and the limits of critical judgment concerning individuals.”

Journalists, editors and their publications must be held accountable when they exceed the boundaries of what is acceptable within the confines of a free press in a democratic society.

This accountability must continue to find expression in the right to reply, in arbitration by an ombud, or, if necessary, in the application of laws governing libel and slander (and, of course, treason).

It cannot be the function of a government or a tribunal it would effectively appoint and control to set these limitations—especially not when that government’s ruling party has been implicated in a succession of scandals uncovered by the press.

When the ANC in its September general council discusses the proposals contained in the working document “Media Transformation, Ownership and Diversity”, it must be left in no doubt that the proposed tribunal and information law would wound South Africa’s democracy profoundly.

Parish politics

C

HRIS Moerdyk’s column (July 21) makes for interesting reading, especially his comments on “control freaks” and the “rumour-mongers”.

With regard to the latter, if a priest is seen in the company of a female parishioner having coffee at a local coffee-bar, the onlooker becomes suspicious. Immediately they concur that there is something “going-on” between the priest and the woman. They can’t wait to relate the scene to others.

SA’s Samaritans

T

HE Church in South Africa— not just as an institution or hierarchy, but we all as Catholics, Christians and South Africans—must speak out and act against xenophobia.

It is distressing to see a rise in xenophobic attacks after the World Cup. We all spoke how this was Africa’s World Cup. We were cheering for Ghana, calling them our brothers. And now, we are driving out and threatening with violence those very same brothers and sisters.

This sounds so very much like the Palm Sunday crowds welcoming the Messiah into Jerusalem as King and then on the Friday calling for his execution.

We have heard at Mass the story of the Good Samaritan. This story is not simply allegorical. When Jesus told this parable, he too recognised and rejected the prejudices and hatred—the xenophobia—of his own people, including his disciples (Lk 9:51-56).

Who is our neighbour? Who is our Samaritan? It is the Zimbabwean, Nigerian, Congolese, and Somalian brother and sister in our midst. We need to speak out at in our parishes and publicly—through the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference, the Catholic media, Justice & Peace structures— and with the wider Christian Church.

We must commit to taking a stand against xenophobic threats, attitudes, and behaviours by colleagues, neighbours, friends, family, the police, politicians and the general public. We need to believe in an South Africa shaped by cultural diversity where people of different nationalities, languages, races, genOpinions 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.

KRUGER PARK SCHEDULED DAILY SAFARIS TO KRUGER PARK Fly-in and overland tours. See www.vivasafaris.com

Reservations:

ders, creeds, and ages can live together peacefully.

And we need to pray—for mercy, forgiveness, unity, peace, and for us to love our neighbour.

Chris Hill, Cape Town

Incense is also used at other liturgical celebrations of the Church. I am sure the clergy do take into consideration those of the community and of the faithful, who suffer from asthma and other allergies in the use of incense. When incense is used, normally the doors and windows are open and in some churches there are special rooms for those who suffer from any ill-effects of incense.

Incense is a symbol and a sign of our prayers rising to God and the holy angels.

Holy water when we bless ourselves is a symbol of our baptism into the death and resurection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us not see incense as “abusive” but as a symbol of our Christian and Catholic faith.

Daniel Ambrose Manuel SCP, Cape Town

God’s preferential option for poor

I

WOULD not steal Johannesburg diocese’s thunder in committing to such a costly project as the new chancery. However I do share the concerns of the letter writers in your June 21 issue. Why? The basic principle underlying our Catholic social teaching is “God’s preferential option for the poor and the voiceless”. Does this mean God must do the work to realise this preferential option or is it a challenge to those who believe in a God crying for social justice?

If we look at biblical history as a whole, God has always called on someone to spearhead this option.

In South Africa who is spearheading this special option of God’s? The name that comes first to mind for his endeavours on God’s behalf for the poor, I am sure you will agree, is Bishop Kevin Dowling.

Who will join me in challenging the fundraisers of Johannesburg diocese to raise an equal amount to embolden Bishop Dowling’s endeavours (and any others considered to be working for God’s preferential option).

Rosemary Gravenor, Durban

In defence of incense

I

N response to S Curror’s letter on incense: “The smoke of incense rose before God, with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel”— (Revelation 8:4).

Incense is used during the liturgy of the hours, especially at solemn vespers (evening prayer) with the exposition of the blessed Sacrament and in religious houses on a Sunday evening.

Plight of detained Chinese bishops

S

O where are the two Chinese bishops, James Su Zhemin and Cosmos Shi Enxiang who from the report in The Southern Cross have been held in detention in China since 2007?

Is there still an active search for them or official requests from the Vatican for their release? I thought it was very bold of the recently released bishop, Julius Jia Zhiguo, to resist attempts of being assimilated by such puppet government approved organisations as “the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association” which in essence is nothing more than a public façade for the Chinese government to display how tolerant they are of Catholic bodies in their country, yet detaining without trial anyone who dares voice an opinion about any of its policies and human rights abuses.

Is the wonderful loyalty that Bishop Julius shows to the Pope reciprocated by action on the part of the Vatican to find the other two detained bishops? Who does one approach for information? I certainly will pray for them.

Romina Rubin, Pretoria

St Anthony’s Education Centre, an equal opportunity NPO has a vacancy for a Manager of the Skills Training Centre.

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relationship with friends. It’s healthy to have friends, but unhealthy to control that friendship.

Equally sad is that some members of the clergy find it difficult to trim the wings of this type of parishioner. They normally respond with: “They love what they are doing. Don’t let us take it away from them” or “don’t let’s rock their boat.”

Mr Moerdyk’s comment “…but it does help a lot if they [the priests] have enough people skills to keep those over-enthusiastic volunteers under control” is worth noting.

Peter Venter, Durban North

MANAGER FOR SKILLS TRAINING CENTRE

VIVA SAFARIS Viva Safaris is engaged with 4 projects aimed at the upliftment of the Acornhoek community, including the COMBONI MISSIONARIES’ OUTSTATION

For heavens sake, isn’t a priest allowed leisurely time with friends or fellow parishioners be they female or male?

Control freaks are found in most organisations and the Church is no exception. Normally they are retired leaders or managers who find it difficult to let go of authority. In their enthusiasm, they quickly offer their services before any one else can raise their hand.

To offer assistance is more often than not met with suspicion of a “take-over” bid. Their response being, “No thank you, I’ve got it all under control.” Sadly, these zealots’ attitude spills over to their personal

The duties include the management of the Centre (both resource and financial management), marketing and fundraising for the Centre and overseeing the quality of the technical training. The successful candidate should preferably possess a qualification in a technical field and have an in-depth knowledge of the skills training sector. A minimum of three years experience in a management position is a requirement. Good leadership capability, good communication, writing skills and computer literacy are also required. An understanding of the NPO sector will be an advantge. Salary - negotiable.

This appointment will be in line with the prevailing Christian ethos of the Centre. The application form and additional information on St Anthony’s Education Centre may be obtained at www.st-anthonyscentre.co.za.

Closing date: 16 August 2010. If you have not received a response by 15 September 2010, please note that your application was not successful.

PERSPECTIVES Toni Rowland

Family Friendly

Mary as queen in Women’s month

T

HE feast of the Assumption, August 15, as the patronal feast of South Africa is an important feature in Church life that perhaps is underutilised.

I am well aware that some parishes have an all-night vigil or pilgrimage in preparation for the celebration of the feast (which this year needn’t be transferred). But I’m not sure what the focus of the celebrations usually is and how it can be applied to family life. This is, after all, a core element and the basic building block of the Church as a whole and is the model for the African Church, given the image “Church-as-family”.

In August we also celebrate Women’s Day, which in fact has pretty well become Women’s Month, probably at the instigation of the media who find that a useful hook to hang all kinds of promotions on. So we, in the Church, can do the same.

The Family Life Desk uses hooks too, like the Soccer World Cup and the theme for 2010 of “Families Play the Game”. So then August’s game-related family life theme is “How Men and Women Play”.

Mary is honoured in the Church primarily as Mother of God but has a whole litany of other titles too. She is queen; of heaven, of angels and saints, queen of peace and in the Litany of Loreto, queen of the family too.

As regular readers of this column know, I am actively promoting the idea of a “family hour”, ideally as a time for family members to spend together, “praying and playing”. This means sharing their thoughts and concerns, and working out solutions to family issues together as well as having some fun.

In our present social context, how is the notion of queen perceived? What is our attitude and experience around the word queen as a leader, an authority figure, a role model, a figure-head? We may think of Queen Elizabeth II of England, who in her 80s is still a very respected figure.

Or we may think of Queen Nandi, the mother of King Shaka, who overcame many obstacles, including exile, and is regarded by the Zulus as a symbol of hard work, patience and determination.

Lineage is important to many, but generally royalty does not command the same respect, almost veneration, as it did half a century ago.

Our leaders, women leaders included, are now more likely to have achieved their position because of personal competence or influence rather than heritage.

It is accepted that women leaders tend to have more of a difficult time rising to the top and need to be even more motivated and inspired to achieve the goals they have set for themselves.

Who the most respected woman leaders of our day are depends very much on politics, sometimes on economic achievements and at times too on other personal, possibly more feminine and/or humanitarian qualities.

Mother Teresa was a leader, but who would consider her a queen? Those whom she served and cared for might not use the term, but would understand the concept.

One of the aspects of the vocation of the laity, as the Church teaches us, is to share in the kingship of Jesus Christ. In practice that means guardianship, protection, defence, guidance and leading by example.

Surely that applies to women too, women leaders, queens in our homes and our workplaces where we exercise that kingly role.

But that is where things get confusing. We women still like to be treated as queens, especially by those nearest and dearest to us, but then we ourselves might mean being spoilt with flowers and chocolates.

I believe that the whole topic of queenship could be a fruitful one for family discussion and sharing, and why not during this Women’s month? It is an opportunity to look to Mary as queen, as patron and as model; not just by virtue of her position, but also how she played the game and the example of her life that she provides for us.

During Women’s month let’s make that reflection a priority and hopefully a source of joy.

Queen, assumed into heaven, patroness of South Africa pray for us. Queen of the family, pray for us.  Catch up with previous Toni Rowland columns at www.scross.co.za/category/ rowland/

A spiritual resolve Last week Fr Austin introduced us to the early days of Cardinal John Henry Newman, who will be beatfied by Pope Benedict in September. When we left off, Newman was a young Anglican vicar and chaplain at Oxford unversity Church, St Mary’s.

T

HE spiritual vacuum that Cardinal John Henry Newman had been experiencing within himself and which pervaded Oxford existed to a greater or lesser degree throughout England on the 19th century. The British considered themselves to be Christians, but most reserved religion for its proper time and place—on Sunday in church.

Most of the clergy considered themselves to be professionals—men as necessary for the proper functioning of society as bankers, doctors, lawyers and teachers. Rather than challenging their congregations with the Gospel, the clergy of the established Church preferred to view themselves as part of a society that accepted only those parts of the Gospel that accorded with English ways of thinking and acting.

“How did we ever get that way?” was the question Newman and his young clerical friends who shared his concern for the spiritual life of England puzzled over.

To discover the answer, they began reading the history of Christianity from the earliest times. Out of this research came Newman’s first great historical study, The Arians of the Fourth Century, the first of many scholarly works on the early Church. It also signalled the end of evangelical Anglicanism for the Reverend Mr Newman, M.A. (Oxon), Vicar of St Mary’s.

Late in 1832, Newman’s fellow tutor and comrade in arms in the fight to purify the Church of England of political interference, Hurrell Froude, contracted tuberculosis. Froude’s father offered to take his son to Italy to escape the harsh English winter and invited Newman to accompany them.

Newman accepted the invitation and thoroughly enjoyed visiting Rome and the major tourist attractions of Italy.

While the Froudes returned to England, Newman stayed on and followed an urge to visit the island of Sicily with its rich settler history. He could never find a satisfactory reason for this compulsion. He roamed all over the mountainous island and fell ill with a severe fever. He became delirious and experienced disturbing hallucinations.

In moments of clarity he prayed and searched his sensitive conscience. “I

Michael Austin SJ

The Newman Chronicles seemed to see more and more my utter hollowness” he wrote in the apologia.

“I felt God was fighting against me because of my self-will.” Over and over he reviewed his bitter struggle he had had with the powerful structures at Oxford, and it came to him that “I was fighting then for my own advancement and not for the Lord”.

With the nature of his crisis now revealed, Newman came to terms with God and with self. He resolved never again to seek his own will, but only God’s, and to depend on God’s strength, not his own, to accomplish it. Besides the return of his physical strength, he also felt renewed spiritually. Confidently he wrote home, “God has work for me to do in England.”

While becalmed off the island of Sardinia on the voyage home, he wrote the magnificent poem, “Lead Kindly Light”, a distillation of the spiritual experience he had had. From now on the “Kindly Light” was to be the beacon by which he steered his life.

Immediately on his return to Oxford he regrouped his scattered forces. The young scholars who had worked with him to revitalise Oxford’s spiritual life now raised their sights.

They aimed at nothing less than the religious renewal of the whole of Britain.

The first target was the clergy of the established Church. They urged them in a pamphlet (called Tract) and in sermons and newspaper articles to rethink their role in society. The clergy were accused of resting their authority on their own temporal distinctions and government support.

Newman complained: “I fear we have neglected the real ground on which our authority is built—our descent from the apostles… Did the state make us? Can it unmake us? Are we content to be the mere creation of the state?”

Again and again the Oxford Movement or Tractarians, as the group came to be called, hammered out its basic message: There can be no Christianity in Britain as long as the church accepts worldly power and prestige as the source of its authority. Its only true authority is based on the fact that it came down through the ages from Christ and the apostles.

But the more Newman pursued his researches into the history of the church, the more he realised that it was the Church of Rome and not the Church of England that could trace its foundations directly to Christ and the apostles. This conclusion took two years to come to him.  This is the second in Fr Michael Austin SJ’s seven-part series on the life of Cardinal John Henry Newman.

St Anthony’s parish, Pietermaritzburg is proud to launch its Commemorative Brochure of the

celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Marian Centre The brochure traces the history of the founding and building of the Landmark Marian Centre, the Marian School for Boys and the Marian Hall. The building’s founding Priest, Fr Leo Gabriel OMI, is also profiled.

The brochure also celebrates St Anthony’s Catholic Church, founded in 1862, and provides a nostalgic walk down memory lane, commemorating the existence previously of St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School in Retief Street, Pietermaritzburg.

To order a copy of this full-colour 60-page brochure, please contact the parish secretary, Therese Naidoo, on 033-342 5307 or email us mariancenter@gmail.com

The Southern Cross, August 11 to August 17 2010

7

Wilfrid Napier OFM

Point of Reflection

Commit to the common good

W

HAT is the common good? According to Catholic teaching the principle of the common good to which every aspect of social life must be related if it is to attain its fullest meaning, stems from the dignity, unity and equality of all people.

The common good is the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.

A society that wishes and intends to remain at the service of the human being at every level is a society that has the common good—the good of all people and of the whole person—as its primary goal. The human person cannot find fulfilment in himself, that is, apart from the fact that he exists with others and for others.

The demands of the common good are dependent on the social conditions of each historical period and are strictly connected to respect for and the integral promotion of the person and his fundamental rights.

The common good therefore involves all members of society; no one is exempt from cooperation, according to each one’s possibilities, in attaining it and developing it. Everyone also has the right to enjoy the conditions of social life that are brought about by the quest for the common good.

The responsibility for attaining the common good, besides falling to individual persons, belongs to the state, since the common good is the reason that the political authority exists.

To ensure the common good, the government of each country has the specific duty to harmonise the different sectoral interests with the requirements of justice.

The common good of society is not an end in itself; it has value only in reference to attaining the ultimate ends of the person and the universal common good of the whole of creation.

This means that in seeking to meet the demands of the common good, government must set out clearly the measures it can and will take to ensure that its citizens have shelter, security, food, clothing, healthcare; but its first priority is to respect, protect, defend, enhance and promote human life.

This imperative derives directly and immediately from the Creator’s commandment, “love your neighbour as yourself”, or if you wish to narrow it down to Jesus’ expression of it: “Love one another, as I have loved you; and I have given my life for you.”

I will now make brave to spell out a number of consequences, which I will express in the form of searching questions: 1. How can any minister of government or civil servant, if he/she is taking seriously the mandate given by the voters, sleep the sleep of a clear conscience, when he/she knows there are people for who he/she is responsible who do not have the basic necessities of life?

2. How can a minister of government or civil servant at any level make promises that are unreasonable or unrealisable (half a million new jobs promised—at the height of one of the worst recessions in modern history! Collect your ID next Monday—when it takes a minimum of several weeks to process!) Such promises should just not be made!

3. If government’s main task is to meet basic needs at every level, and to do so it needs to set reasonable and achievable goals or targets, as well as to make radical readjustments in prioritising and allocating resources, then how does changing Beatrice Street to Denis Hurley Street improve the living conditions of the homeless in the area?

Continued on page 15

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The Southern Cross, August 11 to August 17, 2010

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The Southern Cross, August 10 to August 17, 2010

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The Southern Cross, August 11 to August 17 2010

TRAVEL

Where the pope goes on holiday T

HE Villa Pontificia at Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence, south-east of Rome, has a long history of papal visits dating back to 16th century—Pope Benedict XIV Lambertini (17401758) became one of the pontiffs most fond of Castel Gandolfo, which he liked to describe as a place where he could “extrapolate his soul from the grindstone”.

Indeed, others have found the same. Centuries earlier Emperor Domitian (81-96 AD) built a magnificent summer residence there, the ruins of which can still be seen today.

The pontifical villas at Castel Gandolfo are situated on 55 hectares, of which 30 make up the gardens and 25 are used for farming.

It is fairly self-sustaining, with its own electrical plant and water piped from nearby Lake Albano.

The properties which make up the villas include the Papal Palace, the Barberini Palace, apartment

housing for 21 employees, offices, farm buildings and animal stables.

The Vatican Observatory, entrusted to the Jesuits, was moved to Castel Gandolfo from the Vatican in 1934, because the glare of the lights in the Roman sky no longer allowed for the observation of the heavens.

The observatory is now in the papal palace.

The Villa Cybo has buildings set aside for the religious community of the Maestre Pie Filippini and their school, and two cloistered convents housing the Poor Clare and Basilian Nuns.

In the piazza in front of the Papal Palace, the parish house assigned to the Salesians stands alongside the pontifical church of St Thomas of Villanova.

The surrounding area is steeped in history—some of it not too ancient. In 1944, the area around the town became a war zone and the inhabitants of Castel Gandolfo and the surrounding areas flocked to the gates of the pontifical estates,

hoping that its extra-territorial status would provide protection. At least 12 000 people are estimated to have sought refuge there.

The papal apartment was reserved at the time for mothers to give birth to their babies and at least 40 children were born there within a period of a few months.

Bombardments on the outskirts of the extra-territorial area did however claim the lives of hundreds of religious and lay people when convents and colleges were hit.

The pope spends his time at Castel Gandolfo in prayer and study and is writing another Encyclical Letter, this one focusing on Faith. It will complete his triptych on Love, Hope and Faith, the three Theological Virtues at the heart of Christian life, message and mission.

It was announced that he would be starting a new encyclical, the fourth of his Pontificate. The pope publically recites the Angelus prayers on Sundays to the delight of many a pilgrim.

Many tourists visit Castel Gandolfo each year, taking in its rich history, breathtaking scenery and honouring its most important guest.

Left: Pilgrims wait outside the papal villa for Pope Benedict’s Angelus prayer at Castel Gandolfo. Since 1626, popes have retreated to Castel Gandolfo, about 32 kilometres southeast of Rome.

Below left: The papal villa at Castel Gandolfo, is seen in the early morning. The villa is the large building with an observatory dome.

Photos by Paul Haring CNS, except where indicated.

Pope Benedict is reflected in a fountain as he feeds fish at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.

PHOTO: (CNS PHOTO/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO VIA REUTERS)

Left top: Anne Sixte of France wears a garment on her head to stay cool as she waits to attend Pope Benedict’s Angelus prayer at the papal villa.

Far left: Pope Benedict greets pilgrims as he arrives to lead the Angelus prayer.

Left: A woman stops to talk with a friend while cleaning the street outside her business in Castel Gandolfo.

Right: Sister Cecilia Ngati of Kenya eats a frozen treat as she waits in line to attend Pope Benedict’s Angelus prayer.

Above: People read newspapers in the morning at a coffee shop outside the papal villa.

REFLECTION

The Southern Cross, August 11 to August 17 2010

11

Mary, our Lady of victory and glory FR ALLAN MOSS OMI looks at the significance of the Assumption of our Lady — South Africa’s patronal feast on August 15 — in the Catholic faith and in our lives as a shining example of humility.

I

N the resurrection of Jesus we see our resurrection. Mary’s assumption exemplifies our Christian destiny. She is the model of the Church on its journey with the Risen Lord. As we celebrate Mary’s glorious assumption into heaven, we celebrate she in whom Christ was incarnate and is with Christ glorified.

Mary’s life began on earth, like that of us all. In her story we see the story of God in our lives, if we will walk with him. In Mary, we see a young Jewish girl steeped in the traditions of her faith with an openness to the Holy Spirit.

Her courtship with Joseph is chaste and pure; that is why she asks how she can conceive. She accepts being chosen to be the mother of Christ and is married to Joseph, yet remains beate semper virgini. During her own pregnancy, she sets out to serve the pregnancy of another.

Having given birth to her son and raised him, she is his most faithful disciple, always there for him, from his birth till his death.

And so the Catechism of the Church teaches that “the Most

Blessed Virgin Mary, when the course of her earthly life completed, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, where she already shares in the glory of her Son’s resurrection, anticipating the resurrection of all members of his Body” (974).

We see Mary in the full tradition of the Church in terms of the four pillars of our faith—scripture, liturgy, doctrine and witness.

From scripture, the Apocalypse portrays a “woman adorned with the sun”, an image of Mary, the perfect type of the Church. Is this the woman prophetic in Genesis, whose seed will crush the serpent’s head? Is this the woman Jesus is referring to when he addresses his mother as “woman”(Jn.2:4, 19:26)? Is this the woman who has defeated the dragon and death, Our Lady of Victory, the Queen of Heaven?

How often is Mary mentioned in the celebration of the Eucharist, for example in the confiteor, creed and Eucharistic prayer? The opening prayer of the liturgy honouring the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary says: “All powerful and ever-living God, you raised the sinless Virgin Mary, mother of your Son, body and soul to the glory of heaven.

May we see heaven as our final goal and come to share her glory.” Lex orandi, lex credendi.

The doctrine of the Church is expressed in our profession of faith. As we say the creed, Mary’s name is mentioned as the one who conceived and honoured as the Mother of Jesus Christ, our Lord. The Church goes on to teach us that “today the virgin Mother of God was taken up into

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“Assumption of the Virgin”, painted in the 15 century by Italian Renaissance artist Francesco Botticini. The painting now resides in the National Gallery London. heaven to be the beginning and pattern of the Church. You would not allow decay to touch her body, for she had given birth to your Son, the Lord of life” (preface to the Eucharistic Prayer).

The Church’s witness consists in imitating the Blessed Virgin in humbly being at the service of our Lord and of our neighbour.

How often do we pray the “Hail Mary” with the richness, power and meaning of the words? If only we could be empty of self as she, so that God could fill us with grace. “God has exalted the lowly” (Lk 1:50). We ask her to

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pray for us sinners “now and at the hour of our death” that we may be with her in heaven.

We travel far afield to visit the shrines of Our Lady. There is one not far from our family homestead in KwaZulu-Natal, called Ngome. Here, Sr Reinolda May, a Benedictine nun, said she saw Our Lady, surrounded by a bright light, dressed in white. Upon her breast was a big host, radiating life. It was as though she was a living monstrance. She called herself “Tabernacle of the Most High”, and that is the title of Our Lady at the shrine. Mary reminds

us that like her, we are tabernacles, bringing Christ to the world.

My little friend Angelina shows off her rosary to her friend. She said this is how she talks to Our Lady. “What if she isn’t there?” enquired her little friend. “I know she is there,” replied Angelina, “she is waiting for us.”

How can she not be there? It may not be a proper ontological proof of existence but such is the logic and faith of a child. How does our faith compare?  Fr Allan Moss is the pastor of St Mary’s parish in Pietemaritzburg.

12

FOCUS

The Southern Cross, August 11 to August 17, 2010

HIV/Aids: who cares for the caregivers?

Conversation about HIV/Aids tends to focus on prevention and research, but those who provide care are often neglected, as experts told PAUL JEFFREY.

A

LTHOUGH much of the news coverage of HIV/Aids focuses on advances in research or controversies over prevention methods, those who struggle on the frontlines of the pandemic say more attention needs to be on those who quietly care for people living with the virus.

“Home-based caregivers are the unsung heroes of the Aids response,” said Ann Smith, the HIV corporate strategist of Cafod (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development), an agency of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

“Caregivers provide basic healthcare, but also show support and acceptance. Their visits to the homes of people living with HIV and Aids destigmatise the disease and remove the fear and isolation that often accompany it. They are hugely important, but they’re often ignored,” Ms Smith said.

It is often women—usually older women who are often grandmothers—who provide the care and compassion.

Activists in the field say that work needs more visibility and given greater resources if vital health services are going to be strengthened to better respond to the challenges of HIV/Aids.

“Home-based caregivers have not received the recognition and visibility they deserve. If we’re going to achieve universal access [to Aids treatment and prevention], then appropriate attention and adequate resources are long overdue to those who provide care and support on the ground,” said Hedia Belhadj, deputy director of the Technical Support Division of the UN Population Fund.

Matilda Maluza, national health secretary for the Catholic bishops’ conference of Malawi, said that more than 80% of caregivers in her country are women, and they are not adequately compensated for their work.

“We are taking advantage of women, who are born to be caregivers. We’re violating the rights of the woman, because she has other roles. I’m a woman, but I also go to work. When I come home, I want to sit down and rest. But if I’ve got a number of people to care for, as a woman I’m expected to care for them. I have to cook and fetch water and firewood, and then I’m expected to care for others. When do I get time to rest?

Just because you’re a woman doesn’t mean you should do everything,” she said.

“Men should contribute more, but men tend to only get involved when there is pay involved. It’s time for that to change,” she added.

A study released at last month’s International Aids Conference in Vienna, Austria, by the international Huairou Commission showed that unpaid female caregivers in six African countries routinely donate an average of 69 hours per month to care for the sick and vulnerable—a contribution worth millions of dollars each month. The study examined caregivers’ work in South Africa, Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda.

Ms Maluza said increased government support for home-based care was sorely needed.

Caregivers in Malawi—where the Huairou study showed caregivers donate an average of 8,2 hours per week—have organised an alliance to pressure the government for better support, she said.

Yet caregivers will continue their work whether official support is present or not, she said, because of the commitment and reach of faith-based organisations, which provide 40% of health services in Malawi.

“Faith-based groups began working with HIV and Aids before governments got involved. We didn’t sit around waiting for resources, we just got started,” Ms Maluza said.

Fr Richard Bauer, executive director of Catholic Aids Action, a programme of the Namibian bishops’ conference, said caregivers have long been “at the core of quality programming”, yet the

faith that often motivates such selfless commitment has not always been well understood.

“The first thing we do when we gather with our volunteers is pray, reinforcing their spiritual strength, because that’s usually their primary motivation. Only then do we start talking about the medical aspects of their work. The success of a lot of faith-based organisations in combating Aids is that we keep that order of things,” Fr Bauer said.

“Donors and governments come to me constantly and ask how we do homecare. I tell them that the volunteers are often motivated by their own faith. And the government representatives respond: ‘Well, okay, but without that faith stuff, how do you do it?’

What can I say? The faith motivation of the caregivers is key,” he said.

I

n an era of declining financial support for Aids work, Ms Smith said the value added by caregivers makes faith-based organisations an even better channel for responding to the continuing crisis.

“One of the values of faithbased organisations is that they can mobilise huge numbers of volunteers, yet these people aren’t visible at more strategic levels, in part because they don’t cost the system anything. They should cost the system.

“It’s a huge injustice, as caregivers are often expected to provide all sorts of support out of their own pockets, which are often as empty as those of the people they’re caring for. But they’re seldom factored into budgets or grants,” said Ms Smith.

Fr Bauer said he has struggled to

Maryknoll Father Richard Bauer, executive director of Catholic AIDS Action in Namibia, speaks during a press conference at the XVIII International Aids Conference in Austria.

PHOTO: PAUL JEFFREY, CNS

find ways to support the caregivers while affirming their volunteer status.

“Sometimes they take food from their own family to care for other people. This can’t continue from a justice point of view. In one recent food distribution for orphans and other vulnerable children, I proposed taking 15% of the food and giving it to the volunteers, the ones who get it to those who need it. That was a solution that everyone supported,” Fr Bauer said.

Fr Bauer has also worked to involve men, and he said the response surprised him.

“We started training men because we had the idea that a few of them could help convince other men to support the women doing the work, because women caregivers often got in trouble with their male partners. The male part-

Home-based care worker Olipa Mkandawire prays for a man living with AIDS in Matuli, Malawi.

PHOTO: PAUL JEFFREY, CNS

ners would say: ‘Why are you doing all that? You should be out in the fields, or at home or caring for kids.’ Our initial idea was to get the men to support the women, but the men said: ‘No, we want to do it ourselves.’ We started a couple of pilot programmes of men providing homecare for men. It was unbelievable. We now have more men on the waiting list to be caregivers than we have a budget to train and supervise them,” Fr Bauer said.

Dr Kathleen Foley, medical director of the International Palliative Care Initiative of the Open Society Institute, said the situation of caregivers and the people they care for would benefit from more training.

“Home-based caregivers are not professionalised, so the formal healthcare system…is worried about them because they don’t have any way to standardise the quality of their care. Palliative care has clear standards, and people are certified in providing that kind of care. When we take home-based care and make it have clear quality standards, accountability and transparency, then there’s enormous respect for home-based care.

The caregivers have enormous common sense, and they have a clear understanding of family needs, but they need some help from a psychological and medical perspective.”

Dr Foley said caregivers can play a key role in monitoring the responsibility of governments to provide healthcare to their citizens.

“Pain relief and palliative care are human rights issues, and governments need to be held accountable. The best people to hold them accountable are our home-based caregivers, because they see the needs every day on the frontline of responding to the health crisis,” she said.—CNS

e-mail: vocdir@brescia.co.za website: www.ursulines.org

PEOPLE

The Southern Cross, August 11 to August 17, 2010

13

Pope Benedict’s costly UK trip

BY CINDY WOODEN

W

Lino Rulli, host of a US Catholic radio show, led a pilgrimage of 40 listeners to Italy. He is pictured here broadcasting from Vatican Radio studios.

PH OTO: PAUL HARING, CNS

Pilgrimage to Holy Stairs and green sambuca A Catholic radio presenter led a pilgrimage of listeners to Italy, finding that there is space for the holy and edifying as well as for rock karaoke and green sambuca, as CAROL GLATZ reports.

C

LIMBING the Holy Stairs on one’s knees, getting a blessing from Pope Benedict, visiting dark catacombs and downing green sambuca and mounds of pasta carbonara well past midnight.

That’s just a small sampling from the itinerary of a new and rather novel Italian pilgrimage led by US radio talk show host “The Catholic Guy”, Lino Rulli.

Mr Rulli and 40 listeners of his nationally broadcast radio show travelled with Fr Rob Keighron of Howard Beach, New York, to have what Mr Rulli called “the best and the worst pilgrimage in the world”.

It was the best, he said, because from last month they visited and prayed at holy sites in Rome, Florence, Assisi and Siena.

It was the worst because not many people would equate the not-so-spiritual moments of singing Bon Jovi at a karaoke club and imbibing Italian wines and liqueurs as being part of a proper pilgrimage, explained Mr Rulli.

“I think people like the idea that to be a Catholic, to have a religious experience does not mean to have a sour puss on your face” before, during and after those intensely spiritual moments.

Rulli, who broadcasts on Sirius satellite radio’s The Catholic Channel, announced before Christmas last year that listeners were invited to sign up for a nine-day pilgrimage to Italy.

He said he wasn’t sure how long they would have to promote the trip to get all 40 spots filled, but the trip was sold out on the day it was announced, and more than 100 people were on the waiting list.

“In radio you don’t get to interact very much with your listeners,” he said. “So the idea of spending eight days with people you don’t know was definitely [daunting]—we weren’t sure it would work, but it was by far the greatest thing I had ever done in my career.”

At the beginning of the trip, he joked with his guests that they were starting out as strangers, but might end the journey as enemies. They put in 15-hour days

and toured cities in 38°C heat, making it seem “like a Catholic Survivor”, he said. But the participants still became friends.

The pilgrims—from university students to grandparents—came from all over the United States.

The only thing they had in common was listening to his show.

While almost everyone was Catholic, some did not go to church regularly, and a few belonged to other Christian denominations.

What struck people on the tour, Mr Rulli said, was that many of them were able to experience for the first time both their faith and having fun with friends. Usually faith and fun are lived as separate entities, experienced on separate days and with different sets of people.

Fr Keighron, 29, opened up many people’s eyes, Mr Rulli said.

On the trip, he said, they saw “the priest isn’t just the guy you see at church” behind the altar, but also is a normal man who loves sport, will drink green sambuca liqueur at the end of the day and can still be a strong spiritual leader.

One pilgrim said he was going to start going to church more regularly because he now saw “the priesthood in a different light”, said Mr Rulli.

Out of the dozens of holy sites they visited, Mr Rulli said the place that stirred the most emotion in the group was the sanctuary of the Scala Santa (Holy Stairs) in Rome.

According to tradition, the Holy Stairs are the ones Jesus climbed when Pontius Pilate brought him before the crowd and handed him over to be crucified. The 28 marble steps have been covered with thick wood panels, now worn smooth from centuries of human traffic. Many climb the shrine’s stairs on their knees, pausing to pray on each step.

Mr Rulli said his group members decided to climb the stairs on their knees because they felt it was “important to balance out all the fun we were having” and to remind themselves of the spiritual purpose of the trip.

At the top of the Holy Stairs, after climbing on their hands and knees, Mr Rulli, a comedian and known germaphobe, unintentionally elicited laughter from his group when he immediately took out his pocket-sized bottle of hand sanitiser.

“We were doing something for our faith, we were doing something penitential and yet at the same time…we were still ourselves,” he said.—CNS

ITH Pope Benedict’s visit to Britain just a few weeks away, Sir Chris Patten, the government official working on organising the trip said the pope’s visit will cost taxpayers more than originally foreseen, but it would be an important opportunity to highlight and promote cooperation on issues the British care about.

The pope is scheduled to visit Scotland and England from September 16-19, meeting Queen Elizabeth, Anglican and other religious leaders, celebrating public Masses and beatifying Cardinal John Henry Newman.

Mr Patten, the former governor of Hong Kong, told Vatican Radio he had been appointed to coordinate the government’s part in the planning because after a new British prime minister was elected, “we were in danger of falling behind” in organising the visit.

“I think at the outset—and this is no criticism, people had perhaps underestimated the complexity involved in fitting together the state visit aspect and the pastoral aspects as if they were a seamless whole,” he said.

“It’s incomparably more difficult arranging the state visit of the Holy Father than arranging the state visit, I suspect, of even President [Barack] Obama. President Obama doesn’t go out and meet 80 000-100 000 people at an open-air venue.”

Mr Patten, a Catholic, said he expected the four-day papal visit

Sir Chris Patten, the prime minister’s representative overseeing government preparations of the pope’s visit to Britain, gives a briefing on the visit.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE OF ENGLAND AND WALES

to cost British taxpayers more than R112 million, but he said April’s one-day summit of the leaders of the world’s largest national economies cost British taxpayers more than R225 million.

He said the pope’s visit is important for Catholics and other religious believers, but “I also think it gives us the opportunity to demonstrate that the government of a largely non-Catholic country still has a formidably large agenda to work with the Catholic Church on issues of consensus,” particularly regarding human rights and international development aid.

Mr Patten said the pope’s visit could also contribute to the gov-

ernment’s efforts to strengthen the relationships among British faith groups.

Several individuals and groups have announced plans to stage protests while the pope is in England, and Mr Patten said that peaceful protests would be allowed since “we live in a free society”.

However, he said, the government wants “to ensure not only the security of the Holy Father, but also that the pastoral events are not disrupted, because that would give serious offence”.

Mr Patten said intolerance or even outright hostility towards religion is often directed more at the Catholic Church than other faith communities “because of the Catholic Church’s prominence and longevity and self-confidence in asserting some basic truths”.

“But I don’t worry too much about that,” he said. “I think we have to stand our ground, recognising when we do so that we’ve often been intolerant to others ourselves in the past. We should be arguing that it’s ironic that some secularists—not all—are being as intolerant of Church groups as Church groups were of them in the past.”

One of the challenges that members of every religion face in Britain, a challenge the pope will share, “is getting across the message that religion is not a problem, that faith is, for many people, the way they cope with the challenges of living in the 21st century”, he said.—CNS

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14

The Southern Cross, August 11 to August 17, 2010

COMMUNITY

Young parishioners of St James parish in Cape Town, after their First Communion. With them is parish priest Mgr Jock Baird.

Fr Ignatius Heer CMM is greeted by well wishers outside Mariannhill monastery church in KwaZulu-Natal, where he celebrated the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood. Fr Heer, who is from Würzburg, Germany, has spent most of his ministry serving parishes at Park Rynie, Umzinto and Ixopo in KwaZulu-Natal.

PHOTO: SYDNEY DUVAL

Members of the St Patrick’s parish’s Catholic Women’s League in East London arranged a special birthday breakfast for parish priest Fr Vales Dania at the East London Golf Club. Fr Dania (seated) is pictured with members of the group.

SUBMITTED BY ANN KENT

Matthew Ross of the College of Magic in Claremont, Cape Town, entertains young sisters Erin (left) and Logan Maritz at a parish high tea at Corpus Christi in Wynberg which was jointly organised by the Catholic Women’s League and the Knights of da Gama.

PHOTO: MICHAIL RASSOOL

During the visit of the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux to Aliwal North, Holy Cross parish Sisters in Fatima House had the privilege of praying in the presence of the relics.

SUBMITTED BY SR BEATRIX MARIA

Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town has been appointed to the board of directors of St Joseph’s Home for Children with Chronic Medical Conditions in Montana. This year St Joseph’s celebrates 75th year of service to medically fragile children.

IN FOCUS

edited by Nadine Christians

Send photographs, with sender’s name and address on the back, and a SASE to: The Southern Cross, Community Pics, Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000 or email them to: pics@scross.co.za

Brothers Tanith and Akita Francis, and sisters Noa and Aerin Solomon, on their way to children’s liturgy during the early morning Mass at Sacred Heart parish in Port Elizabeth.

SUBMITTED BY LUIS MEDINA

Children at St Francis Care Centre in Boksburg, Johannesburg were visited by Princess Takamado of Japan. It was the first time that a member of the Imperial House of Japan has visited South Africa. The centre has had a long relationship with Japan and its citizens who have donated various items and money to the centre.

The Southern Cross, August 11 to August 17 2010

Commit to the common good 4. How do racial quotas in the structures of power or industry give jobs to the unemployed, in particular those whose jobs were lost because the department, industry or business was incompetently run?

5. How does Zimbabwe-style land reform, which has cost thousands of farm workers their jobs, solve our problem of poverty?

6. If human life is the primordial value on our scale of values, how can we continue to allow our hospitals and clinics to degenerate into health hazards instead of fountains of wellbeing?

7. If we are really serious about giving our children a better start in life, how can we continue to allow our schools and the education system to become almost totally dysfunctional?

8. If respect for human life and the human person is our top value, how can we allow sexual morality to lose all meaning other than the passing moment of pleasure it gives?

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Continued from page 7

9. How can we instill love and respect into marriage and family life when our HIV/Aids policy says nothing about self-control or discipline. Or when the women’s rights philosophy is used to destroy human life more than to protect it? How can we expect anything other than the shocking rate of murder, of violence or of abuse?

I guess the list could go on and on.

By taking a religious kicking off point, I hope I have been able to show that the project of government and civil administration as a God-given calling and a mission, which derives directly from our nobler nature which seeks to express the image and likeness of God within us, by acting out of justice and fairness, love and mercy rather than some political ideology imposed from outside our essential nature.  This is the third and final part of Cardinal Napier’s series on religion and the common good.

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

August theme: HOW MEN AND WOMEN PLAYTHE GAME 15th 20th Sunday of the Year C, The Assumption. The patronal feast of South Africa of Mary Queen, assumed into heaven is celebrated in many ways across the country with pilgrimages and vigils and special Masses. Let Mary also be queen in our families and invite her to reign together with her son for all young people, boys and girls.

Mass readings for the week Sundays year C, weekdays cycle 2 Sun August 15, Assumption of our Lady: Rv 11:19,12:1-6, 10; Ps 45:10-12, 16; 1 Cor 15:2026; Lk 1:39-56 Mon August 16, St Stephen of Hungary: Ez 24:15-24; Ps: Dt 32:18-21,; Mt 19:16-22 Tue August 17, feria: Ez 28:1-10; Ps: Dt 32:2628,30,35-36; Mt 19:23-30 Wed August 18, feria: Ez 34:1-11; Ps 23:1-6; Mt 20:1-16 Thur August 19, St John Eudes: Ez 36:23-28; Ps 51:12-15,18-19; Mt 22:1-14 Fri August 20, St Bernard: Ez 37:1-14; Ps 107:2-9; Mt 22:34- Pope Pius X, who died 100 40 years ago on Sat August 21, St Pius X: August 21 Ez 43:1-7; Ps 85:9-14; Mt 23:1-12 Sun August 22, 21st Sunday of the year: Is 66:18-21; Ps 117:1-2; Heb 12:5-7,11-13; Lk 13:22-30

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Ora et Labora The Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill, CMM, sprung from the Trappist Monastery of Mariannhill founded by Abbot Francis Pfanner in South Africa in 1882. We believe that: “Our missionary field is the Kingdom of God and that has not boundaries!” Faithful to the example of Abbot Francis Pfanner, the Mariannhill Brothers and Priests try to be of service to the local church through pastoral, social and development works. We make our contribution to the call for renewing, uplifting, developing and sustaining the human spirit, as our response to the signs and needs of the time. In our missionary life of Prayer and Work (Ora et Labora), we try to effectively proclaim the Good News to all people, especially to the poor and needy, so that there are “Better Fields, Better Houses, Better Hearts!”

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BIRTHDAYS BIRTHDAY wishes to my dad, Cecil Davids, August 13, 2010. God’s richest blessing on this SPECIAL day, and always. Love you Tina, Basil, Taryn and Bronwyn Langley.

DEATHS COLBACK—Our dear sister Therese (born Goller) died at St Oswald’s Hospice, Newcastle, England, in July after a long illness and many difficulties. She shared her last days peacefully with her sons, their partners and children.

Our thanks to Fr David Smith. All our love from Rosemary and Paul IN MEMORIAM BLAIS—André Joseph Very Rev Fr OMI (1902 – August 7, 1992) Father and founder of the Secular Institute of the Servants and the religious Congregation of the Handmaids of Christ the Priest. You continue to watch and pray over us, your sons and daughters. You will always be greatly remembered before the Altar of the Lord. From your beloved Servants and the Handmaids of Christ the Priest.

DIAB—Cecil M, 1929 – 2000. Cecil, 10 years ago we sat beside your bedside. Our hearts were crushed and sore, we could not do more to save you. You left us broken hearted with lots of tears.

We loved you so dearly.

We can never forget all your love and kindness you showed us. Please keep on praying for us and guide us. May our dear Lord and His beloved Mother protect you and keep you in their loving hands. We love and miss you. Always pray for us.

Your loving wife Bunny, children Gerald, Belinda, Gary and Charlotte, granddaughters Lee-Anne and Kayla. RIP PRAYERS O GREAT St Joseph of Cupertino, by your prayers you obtained from God the grace of being asked at your examination, the only questions you knew.

Obtain for us a like success in the examinations for which we are now preparing and waiting, and in return we promise to make your name known and cause to be invoked in prayers. Amen. O Mary bring to our minds the unknown and forgotten. St Jude and O Little Flower show us your power. LeeAnne and Kayla Diab.

O MOST beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of Heaven, blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity.

O Star of the Sea, help me and show me where you are, Mother of God. Queen of heaven and earth I humble beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succour me in my necessity.

There is none who can withstand your power, O Mary conceived without sin, pay for us who have recourse to thee. Holy

Mary, I place this cause in your hands. Say this prayer for 3 consecutive days and then publish.

Sylvia.

PERSONAL ABORTION WARNING: ‘The Pill’ can abort, undetected, soon after conception (a medical fact).

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ST CATHERINE’S Convent, Florida are updating their records and are missing Matric Class photographs from the following years: 1964 and 1966 to 1975. If anyone is able to help, please contact Rose at St Catherine’s Convent, The Highway, Florida, 011 472 3384 or email rose@stcatherines.co.za EMPLOYMENT OFFERED DATA entry with Data WorX. Get paid in dollars, with or without a computer.

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SEA POINT: Double room, own bathroom in heart of this prestigious suburb, near all amenities. Tel: 072 236 2996.

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STELLENBOSCH: Five simple private suites (2 beds, fridge, microwave). Countryside vineyard/forest/moun tain walks; beach 20 minute drive. Affordable.

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FISH HOEK: Self-catering accommodation, sleeps 4.

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Tel/fax 021 782 3647, email:alisona@xsinet. co.za GORDON’S BAY: Beau tiful en-suite rooms available at reasonable rates. Magnificent views, breakfast on request. Tel: 082 774 7140. E-mail: bzhive@telkomsa.net IFAFA BEACH—KZN South Coast:. Self-catering cottage on the beach R100pppn. Min rates apply. Fantastic facilities.

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21st Sunday – Year C (August 22nd) Readings: Isaiah 66:18-21, Psalm 117:1-2 Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13, Luke 13:22-30

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ILL there be foreigners in Heaven?

We tend unreflectively to assume that God has the good taste to include only “People Like Us” in the Kingdom. The readings for next Sunday rather challenge that too-comfortable prejudice of ours; God has a broader gaze than ours, and we in South Africa have learnt that we need to look beyond our easy racial (and other) stereotypes.

In the first reading, an unknown prophet is meditating on the experience of returning to Israel from Exile, and the discovery there that foreigners can speak to us of God; and some Israelites will have been astonished to hear him putting on God’s lips the claim that these “nations of all languages will come and see my glory”, and the further, perhaps rather alarming, suggestion that “they shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the Lord...to my holy mountain, to Jerusalem, just like the children of Israel bring their offerings in pure vessels”. And, astonishingly, these foreigners are going to have a sacred ministry, “I shall even take some of them as

E

CONRAD

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Expanding our reality Fr Nicholas King SJ

Scriptural Reflections priests and Levites, says the Lord”. Our toonarrow focus on reality will have to be forcefully expanded.

The psalm for next Sunday continues this startling message, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, give him glory, all you peoples”.

The fact is that God’s love is bigger than anything that we can possibly imagine: all human beings are entitled and invited to “Praise the Lord”, and we should rejoice when they do so.

The second reading for next Sunday also invites us to see God in a different way, though here it is the God who is a strict disciplinarian, not because he hates us, but because he loves us, “My son, don’t disdain the Lord’s discipline”; the distinguished theologian who penned the treatise that we call

the “Letter to the Hebrews” invites us to see ourselves as sons (and daughters) of God, but to realise at the same time to recognise that the Lord’s discipline is a sign of affection. So we are to keep going, “Strengthen your drooping hands and your paralysed knees”.

No one said it would be easy.

In the gospel, Jesus is well into the journey that Luke has constructed out of his sources. The word “journey” is used twice in the first line, and we are reminded that the journey will end in Jerusalem, where, we already know, Jesus is to die. That should shake up our complacency; and if it did not, we have a good religious person asking Jesus a pietist’s question, “Lord—it is only a few people who are being saved?”. The response is not such as to encourage us unduly¸ “Make every effort to go through the narrow door, because, I’m telling you, many will look to go in —and they won’t have the power to do so.”

Then the complacent (ourselves?) are warned, “You’ll begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord —open up!’ and he’ll answer you, ‘I have no idea where you come from’.” And he imagines them

Exposing the hoaxes VERY year, round about this time, an e-mail starts circulating in the Christian community in South Africa, warning about an offensive, anti-Christian movie about a gay Jesus called Corpus Christi which is supposed to be due for imminent release.

Ignore it, it is a hoax. And an old hoax at that. It has been around for about 18 years now and keeps surfacing with just the release date of the movie continually changing. Corpus Christi once was a controversial play, but there are no plans to make a movie of it.

There is a similar hoax e-mail which Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher told about. In that e-mail an atheist called Madeline Murray O’Hare wants to cancel all manner of Christian TV programmes. Murray O’Hare is not made up, but the trouble is, she disappeared without a trace some 30 years or so ago.

The problem with these hoax emails is that we Christians can become our own worst enemies by perpetuating their circulation. I agree entirely with the wise Mr Simmermacher who suggests that as Catholics, our very best friend in these situations is a website called www.snopes.com that specialises in hoaxes and is an excellent guide in terms of ferreting out all scams and urban legends.

You will find out about the Madeleine O’Hare hoax by going to www.snopes.com/politics/religion/fc c.asp and the Corpus Christi movie on www.snopes.com/politics/religion/ gay/jesus.asp In my opinion, the damage that

can help in the education of South Africans for the priesthood at St Joseph’s Scholasticate, Cedara, KwaZulu-Natal.

Chris Moerdyk

The Last Word these hoax e-mails do is extensive because they all ultimately end up as “crying wolf” to the point that when real outrage is required, there is none.

On the subject of outrage, just how should we Catholics or the greater Christian community respond to attacks on our beliefs, our God and our institutions?

A common argument is that the news and entertainment media as well as authors, very rarely lampoon, criticise or belittle the Jewish or Islamic faiths because the response is both swift, hard-hitting and in some cases violent.

Why is it that we Christians just rant and rave among ourselves but very rarely show any public demonstration of outrage, or even mild annoyance?

Why is it that our Christian church leaders always seem to take a long time to reflect on these attacks and then respond with what is never more than mild admonishment?

Well, there are a number of reasons.

The most important of which is that perhaps as Christians we tend to try and follow the teaching of Christ as much as possible, most of which involves turning the other cheek (Mt 5:38-42; Lk 6:27-31).

It is not something that is easy to do. Certainly from my own perspective, my 25% Irish blood tends to boil pretty quickly when the likes of author Dan Brown makes a mockery of everything I hold dear. Not to mention greedy newspapers, TV stations and movie makers who home in on something that involves Christian-bashing because they know that it will generate a lot of publicity and won’t get them into any sort of trouble.

My immediate reaction is to go out and toyi-toyi in front of parliament or seek out those cretins and smack them in the face. Hardly Christian, I admit, but a natural human reaction.

I usually restrain myself from these radical and impetuous actions by reminding myself of Christ and the way he accepted crucifixion when, in fact, he could have brought all manner of horrendous retribution on everyone from Pontius Pilate to the entire Jewish and Roman nations in one fell swoop at the mere suggestion that he was some sort of charlatan. But he didn’t.

He turned the other cheek.

I have come to the conclusion that this is not a bad strategy. As a fellow Christian wrote in a letter to a Sunday newspaper recently, the reason Christians don’t react in the same way as many of the eastern religions, is because it is not in our Christian nature.

Quite apart from that, our Church has survived for more than 2 000 years and has endured far worse onslaughts than the likes of Hollywood and the news media is able to inflict on us.

Another reason is based on something my father taught me about school bullies. The best way to react to a bully, he said, was to ignore him, because what bullies want is some sort of reaction to justify their nefarious ends.

But most of all, I believe that the ploy of ignoring these attacks against us, is beginning to work.

The extremely prominent headline in an issue, late last year, of the The Sunday Times over an article on the Da Vinci Code sequel, Angels & Demons, read simply: “Flogging those Catholics again”.

Proof positive that even the news media is getting sick and tired of Catholic-bashing movies.

trading on being “the right sort of people”, and shouting, “We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our public squares”. To this rather snobbish appeal the response is devastating, “I have no idea where you come from—get out of here, all you evil-doers”.

Then those who rely on their ancestry find that very ancestry used against them, “There is going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you people see Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you lot flung outside; and they’ll come from East and West and North and South and lie down to eat in God’s kingdom.”

So God’s view of things is very different from our rather narrow racial, religious and social stereotypes, as Jesus underlines with his final remark, “Look —there are backmarkers who are going to come first, and front-runners who will come last”.

God’s race is very different from anything that we could possibly imagine; to return to our original question, there will indeed be foreigners in Heaven, but we shall greet them as brothers and sisters and find great joy in doing so.

Southern Crossword #404

ACROSS 1. Kitchen stoves (4) 3. Had enough money for church dues (8) 7. He knows what’s happening in the Vatican (7) 9. Search for Holy Grail (5) 10. High-level practice of contemplation (9) 12. Road is around receiving sets (6) 14. St Peter the Frenchman (6) 16. Treacle I’m making for the nun (9) 19. Did it swallow Jonah?

(5) 20. Posse I’d get rid of (7) 21. Jesus, the good one (Jn 10) (8) 22. Informal conversation (4)

DOWN 1. The angel’s prayerful greeting (4,4) 2. Abraham's place for Lazarus (Lk 16) (5) 3. Very keen in safer video (6) 5. His brothers’ name for Joseph (Gn 37) (7) 6. Fruit on the calendar (4) 8. Curses I do about discussion (9) 9. Governor of Syria (Lk 2) (9) 11. Liturgical robe (8) 13. Die (7) 15. You can borrow from him (6) 17. Methuselah’s father (Gn 5) (5) 18. Inspires with reverence (4)

SOLUTIONS TO #403. ACROSS: 3 Penitents, 8 Baal, 9 Smalltalk, 10 Themes, 11 Stall, 14 Ideas, 15 Sill, 16 Exalt, 18 Enid, 20 Error, 21 Logos, 24 Poorly, 25 Container, 26 Lama, 27 Beardless. DOWN: 1 Abstainer, 2 Dare-devil, 4 Elms, 5 Inlet, 6 Extols, 7 Tell, 9 Sense, 11 Shahs, 12 Librarian, 13 Clergyman, 17 Tenor, 19 Doctor, 22 Oriel, 23 Cope, 24 Pews.

CHURCH CHUCKLE

S

TOPPING a car full of nuns, a policeman asked the nun who was driving why she was travelling so slowly. The nun replied: “All the signs say 25”.

The officer explained: “That is the route number, not the speed limit.”

“My goodness!” she exclaimed, “Thats the reason all the nuns were screaming when we got to route 160!”

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