The Southern Cross - 101020

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Special focus on Mission Sunday

Verdi at Nazi death camp

Holy Land pilgrimage in pictures

The shining spirit of Jesuit poet

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October 20 to October 26, 2010 Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4698

R5,50 (incl VAT RSA)

SOUTHERN AFRICA’S NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY SINCE 1920

Don’t miss next week’s BUMPER 90th ANNIVERSARY ISSUE Out October 27!

Inside Girl’s healing adds to joy The “amazing” recovery of a young girl at a care home has added to the joy of the institution’s 75th birthday.—Page 3

Be saints on Halloween Catholic parents in England and Wales have been urged to dress their children as saints this Halloween in a bid to reclaim the feast of All Hallows for Christianity.—Page 4

Printed media still needed Even in the age of the Internet, traditional Catholic newspapers remain necessary, Pope Benedict told a conference of Catholic journalists in the Vatican.—Page 21

Boost for forgotten Bible town Building works for a Catholic centre in the town of Mary Magdalene revealed a firstcentury synagogue which Jesus might have known.—Page 19

Let’s pay for things ourselves In his reflection on the second African Synod, Fr Evans Chama explains why the continent’s Church must become selfsustaining.—Page 7

Holy Spirit parish in Dobsonville, Soweto, hosted the annual Sophiatown Fashion show. Designers, dancers and various DJs spiced up the event.

The MCs were Dumisane Khumalo (Sticks from TV’s Yizo Yizo) and Ernest Msibi, who plays Vuvu in the SABC 1 drama series Zone 14. Mr Mbisi is seen with the group in the light blue shirt.

PHOTO: NHLANHLA MDLALOSE

Corruption could be avoided

What do you think?

In their Letters to the Editor this week, readers discuss a lesson from a pasta demo, the pope’s visit to Britain, parish volunteers, and not reading The Southern Cross.—Page 6

This week’s editorial: Becoming independent

New book of pope interview

BY CINDY WOODEN

A

BOOK-LENGTH interview with Pope Benedict, titled Light of the World, will be released on November 23 in the world’s major languages, including English, the head of the Vatican publishing house LEV has said.

Addressing journalists at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, Salesian Father Giuseppe Costa, director of the Vatican publishing house, said the text of the book—based on interviews conducted in July by the journalist Peter Seewald—had already been consigned to 12 publishing houses from around the world.

The book is based on conversations Mr Seewald and the pope had during the week of July 26-31 at the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi SJ said the conversation covered a variety of topics, such as Mr Seewald’s earlier bookinterviews with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Salt of the Earth (1996) and God and the World (2002).

During the news conference, LEV also announced that it had already signed contracts with 24 publishing houses to print and distribute the second volume of Pope Benedict’s work on the life of Jesus.

Jesus of Nazareth: From the Entrance in Jerusalem to the Resurrection is scheduled to be released in 2011.—CNS

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

M

OST forms of corruption could be avoided if government and organisations had more solid structures, according to the national director of the human rights group Black Sash.

Poor administration and improper systems can lead to malicious corruption and unnecessary expenditure through poor financial management—another form of corruption, Marcella Naidoo told a roundtable discussion hosted by the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO).

According to the auditor general’s 2008 report, corruption and mismanagement cost South Africa R1,8 billion.

Ms Naidoo said there was a very fine line between mismanagement and corruption. “Where there are no systems in place, confusion is bound to happen and it is here that corruption thrives.”

The round-table, comprising various Church and civil organisations, discussed social grant corruption, sharing experiences on the subject and looking at possible preventative action.

Ms Naidoo said grants have become socially and economically empowering and are guaranteed in the country’s constitution.

“Grants are a right. We, as a country, promised this when we constructed the Constitution.” However, she added, corruption in this area had a direct impact on the dignity of people.

For example, she said, “access to grants

means access to water. Without water people are unable to do basic chores or maintain personal hygiene—which makes it incredibly difficult to get work or make or even keep friends. Taking away a person’s grants can lead to taking away their dignity.”

Ms Naidoo said houses with grants are more likely to accommodate children that attend school and people that look for work more frequently. “Grants are not the only thing, but are a way of stepping out of poverty.”

A recurring theme in the discussion was that of corruption in social grants, which had taken place in various forms and ranged from government officials to the public and false agents.

Fraud was also common, and this was sometimes a case of pity being applied, rather than malicious criminal activity, Ms Naidoo explained. For example, doctors had been found to arrange disability grants for their patients.

Policy gaps also led people to a form of corruption which Ms Naidoo said was unacceptable. “Aids patients receive a grant determined by their CD count. This is a life-threatening decision as they decide between money and being healthy. The lower the count, the more money received, but the healthier one is, the smaller the grant. All of these patients should receive grants which would allow them to eat properly and be healthy.”

She cited another form of corruption and mismanagement of social grant funds.

In the Eastern Cape, a backlog of cases was by-passed by taking officials to court.

Between 2001 and 2004, R52 million was spent defending and preparing cases that the local government knew they were going to lose. Improper usage of funding was seen as the money was used for litigation instead of fixing the issues, Ms Naidoo said.

Catholic Welfare and Development representatives spoke of communities where grants had been abused to feed alcoholism and debt.

Wayne Golding of Youth Unlimited spoke of communities where a mother’s behaviour was monitored by the community. “This brought down corruption because people who lived in the community held each other accountable.”

Ms Naidoo noted that while corruption was present, there has been much positive progress. Money contributed through sales tax—which everyone pays—was successfully reducing poverty. The country has shown, she said, to be a “caring and giving country committed to building a better society”. However, corruption undermines achievement.

Ms Naidoo said the money used for social grants is derived from taxation. It is, she said, “our money, we need to ensure it is used properly and not abused intentionally or through administrative errors”.

Advocate Mike Pothier, the CPLO’s research director, said: “As members of society, we have to expose and report any form of corruption we see.”

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LOCAL

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

Protests mounts against info Bill

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

C

ONCERNED with the Protection of Information Bill, the Right2Know Campaign is mobilising individuals and organisations to oppose the so-called secrecy bill through a week of action.

The campaign was formed in response to the proposed Bill, which has been widely criticised.

The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference said the Bill threatens some of the country’s most fundamental rights.

Dadisai Taderera, researcher for the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO), said in a constitutionally democratic and open society such as South Africa, “any attempt to curb the free flow of information should be treated as the exception, not the norm”. The Bill, she said, proposes making information control a norm.

The Right2Know campaign has so far seen more than 9 000 individuals sign its petition along with 350 organisations from across the country calling for the “truth [to] be told! Stop the Secrecy Bill”. The campaign will culminate in a week of action running from October 19-27, to encourage the public to add their voices through petitioning, mass meetings and marches to Constitution Hill, parliament and the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

Mark Weinberg, the campaign’s national director, believes that the “secrecy” Bill undermines access to information. He said there was concern

What’s new with you?

because the Bill would allow any government department to classify public information as secret.

“Anything and everything can potentially be classified as secret if it is in the ‘national interest’. Anyone involved in the ‘unauthorised’ handling and disclosure of classified information can be prosecuted. The disclosure even of some information which is not formally classified can land citizens in jail.”

The Right2Know campaign slogan—“Let the truth be told.

Stop the Secrecy Bill!”—was drafted following parliamentary hearings on the Bill in July and demands that secrecy legislation complies with constitutional values. It is based on detailed submissions made to parliament by civil society groups.

Organisations who have expressed their concern include Amnesty International, Black Sash, Diakonia Council of Churches, the Institute for Security Studies, National Welfare Forum, Palestine Support Committee, Professional Journalists' Association and the South African National Editors Forum.

This is not the first time a Bill of this nature has appeared before parliament for consideration. The CPLO had made a submission when the Bill was discussed by the Ad-hoc Committee on Intelligence in 2008. The revised Bill has incorporated some of the concerns voiced by the CPLO. Advocate Mike Pothier said the CPLO accepted that circumstances will occur in which access to state information needs to be limited in order to “protect important interests

and to ward off genuine threats to the nation’s security”.

“We are less convinced, however, that the need to protect South Africa’s so-called national interests justifies the extent to which the Bill seeks to protect state information.”

The CPLO and the campaign view the proposed bill as a means of hampering, rather than promoting, transparency and accountability in governance.

Ms Taderera said the main demands of the campaign include that “the Bill be substantially redrafted in an inclusive and transparent manner and that it should reflect the ideals of the Constitution which emphasise the importance of access to information”.

The campaign calls for people to organise meetings, workshops, pickets and protests as well as making contact with a member of parliament.

Other forms of action include writing letters to local newspapers and talking to local radio stations. The public has been invited to show their support by signing the campaign's statement on their website at www.right2know.org.za, or by sending “R2K” in an SMS to 32759.

Ms Taderera said this has been one of the positive effects of the Bill, with civil society rallying together for a common purpose.

“Access to information is not only important for transparency and accountability but for the realisation of all fundamental human rights.”

Send your news and photographs to: The Southern Cross, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000. You can also email pics@scross.co.za

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Parishioners from St Anne’s church were hosted during a retreat at St Getrude church in the diocese of Kimberley. St Gertrude parish priest Fr Reginald Tarimo (pictured) says that “despite the difficulties of high poverty, lack of water, unemplyment, parishioners still have love for their Church and God”.

Jo’burg cathedral turns 50

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

T

HE cathedral of Christ the King in Johannesburg celebrates its golden jubilee this month, with parish priest Fr Shaun Von Lillienfeld describing the milestone as not only important for Catholics but also for the greater community that has come to rely on the city-centre cathedral.

Sunday, October 31 marks 50 years since the cathedral’s first Mass. The anniversary will be celebrated with a Mass in the Tridentine rite.

Fr Von Lillienfeld said the Mass will attempt to recapture the moment in time when the first Mass was held in the cathedral in 1960. The first Mass was celebrated on the feast of Christ the King, which gave the name to the cathedral. The feast has since been transferred to the last Sunday of the liturgical year, in the week of November 20-26.

“We will be celebrating the milestone over the course of the year, starting with the anniversary of the first Mass and then on the new feast day we will celebrate the Community Harvest Festival,” Fr Von Lillenfeld said, adding that the diverse community will come together to participate in festivities with various choirs performing, a highlight of

the celebrations. He said the choirs and communities had brought an “exciting and joyous way” of praise and worship to the church.

Fr Von Lillienfeld said the biggest change the cathedral had seen over the 50 years was the demographic of people attending Mass, but the service the Church provided in the area remained the same.

“Fifty years ago, the surrounding areas housed mine workers and migrants moving towards the city.” He said the cathedral parish served these workers until such time as they moved into the suburbs, making way for more migrant workers.

Today, the cathedral serves 1 750 parishioners over the weekend and some 500-600 parishioners during the week. Special Masses are held for the Nigerian, Malawian, Zulu and Sotho communities on a regular basis, with the traditional Latin Mass also being celebrated once a month.

Looking to the future, Fr Von Lillienfeld said he hoped the new exuberance that the cathedral has received from the communities would continue to uphold the faith, spread it and “most importantly, live it.”

The celebrations begin on October 31 at 10:00.

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

Once wheelchair bound because of polymyositis, Heather-Lee Swanepoel has been labelled St Joseph’s “Spring Miracle Child” after her remarkable recovery. She has been described as a talkative and active child by the Pallottine Sisters who will also be celebrating 75 years of service in the community.

Works by Adam Bremner, Ritha Fenske and Petros Ghebrehiwot forms part of the art campaign, everyONEcounts, to raise funds for abandoned babies.

Artwork for abandoned babies for sale

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

A

CALL has been made to local artists to get involved in a campaign aimed at raising R1 million.

Money raised will go towards helping abandoned babies.

EveryONEcounts is a local nonprofit organisation that hopes to help more than 700 abandoned babies found across the country annually.

Bridget de Beer, spokeswoman for the organisation, said many of these babies are found in plastic garbage bags and “most are left for dead in open fields, garbage bins and toilets”.

The organisation, started by local artist Lara Mellon, supports Shepherd’s Keep, a home for abandoned babies. The campaign has been collecting artworks from around the world throughout the year. The appeal for art was announced earlier this year, Ms de

Beer said, and has already resulted in over 500 works received from artists in Australia, Canada, Cypress, Denmark, Taiwan, the United Stated and Britian, Zambia and all over South Africa.

The campaign aims to collect and exhibit 1 000 original 30x30cm artworks, in any medium, which will each be sold for R1 000, ultimately raising R1 million.

Ms de Beer said the artists that are involved in the project had produced works of art that showed stories of healing and restoration which have been “truly inspiring”.

“We believe that the greatest success of the campaign so far, has been the message that everyone who contributes in any way, truly does count and that their efforts will be significant in making helpless lives know that they are worthy and valuable too.”

The campaign will culminate in

an exhibition to take place at The Quays in Durban on November 25 that will run for three weeks. Anyone over the age of 18 is encouraged to get involved. By exhibiting and selling professional and amateur artworks together and for the same amount, everyONEcounts hopes to reinforce the message that all lives are equally valuable.

All artworks must be received by October 30.

Artists wishing to donate an artwork can do so through the campaign website www.everyone counts.co.za where all the artwork is currently on.

The campaign, Ms de Beer said, was not only a way for artists to get exposure but also for artists to do something meaningful and lifechanging with their artwork.

“This is not just about making sure that every baby counts but also, never forgetting that every human being counts.”

Weekend encourages vocations in Dundee

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

T

HE diocese of Dundee has hosted a special weekend dedicated to vocations.

Consolata Father Rocco Marra of Mary Immaculate Queen parish in Osizweni said it was the first time delegates from around the country were invited to the area to join and address all the Christians of the townships on the topic. The group included Consolata missionaries who are doing a course of ongoing formation over three

months at Pax Christi Pastoral Centre in Newcastle and Mazenod Centre in Germiston.

Sharing their thoughts on vocation over the weekend included sisters of the Daughters of Charity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Benedictine Sisters from Twasana and Newcastle Dominican Sisters.

The Sisters held a workshop with more than 150 children and youth from the five communities of the Osizweni, and were described as “highly successful”.

Fr Marra said the event was special as “people could see that we are the family of God at Osizweni, but also we are called to spread the Gospel everywhere is possible”.

During the celebration the local and missionary vocations were introduced through the sharing of the personal experiences. Together with the Sisters there were also 20 priests and Consolata Missionaries brothers from Africa and South America.  See page 22

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Girl’s ‘amazing’ gift to home

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

A

HOME for chronically ill children is not only celebrating its 75th birthday, but also the “amazing” recovery of one of their little patients.

St Joseph’s Home in Philippi near Cape Town is operated by the Pallottine Sisters. It provides medical services and support for 145 children suffering from chronic and debilitating illnesses.

Most of the children come from informal settlements in the area where around 60% are unemployed and mothers who work, usually as domestic workers for minimum wages, tend to be absent from their homes for long periods of time.

The recent example of HeatherLee Swanepoel, 9, shows the valuable work of St Joseph's in the area.

Social worker Edith Nomabunga said Heather was admitted in February with an acute onset of proximal muscle weakness. Heather was diagnosed with polymyositis, a type of chronic inflammation of the muscles.

The young patient, a Grade 3 learner at St Joseph’s Primary School, received physiotherapy and occupational therapy, and required ongoing nursing care. Ms

Nomabunga said Heather was initially wheelchair bound.

“She was unable to stand or walk. She could not go to the toilet on her own, but she was able to feed and dress herself with some support,” Ms Nomabunga said.

The Pallotine Sisters at St Joseph’s Home have come to refer to Heather as the “Spring Miracle Child”, because after two months at the home, Heather was able to walk with assistance.

According to Ms Nomabunga, Heather is now able to run and play without limitations and she will soon return to her family.

In honour of the good news and anniversary celebrations, home director Thea Paterson paid tribute to the Pallottine Sisters’ hard work and care for the children of the area over the last 75 years, saying it was “amazing” how much had been achieved with so few resources.

The home relies on provincial subsidies that cover around 70% of the running costs of the home, with the balance covered by donors. More than 76 international and local volunteers have offered their services over the past year, which saw occupancy reach 104%.

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The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

INTERNATIONAL

Vatican investigation starts in Ireland

BY CAROL GLATZ

T

HE apostolic visitation of the Catholic Church in Ireland will pay special attention to victims of clerical sex abuse as part of its overall goal of helping the local Church respond adequately to past cases of abuse and to perfect preventative measures, according to the Vatican.

“The visitators will give particular attention to victims of abuse and their families, but will also meet with and listen to a variety of people, including ecclesiastical authorities, lay faithful and those involved with the crucial work of safeguarding children,” said a statement released by the Vatican press office.

Vatican officials held a series of preparatory and planning meetings with the apostolic visitators named

by Pope Benedict and with the Irish

archbishops whose dioceses will be the first to be investigated.

The Irish Church leaders—Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland; and Archbishops Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, Dermot Clifford of Cashel and Emly, and Michael Neary of Tuam—met with the prelates conducting the visitations and with officials from the Congregation for Bishops and the Vatican Secretariat of State.

The meeting, which was “marked by fraternal warmth and mutual collaboration, summarised the discussions from the previous day and focused on the organisation of the apostolic visitation and the archdioceses involved”.

The prefect and secretary of the Congregation for Bishops and other Vatican officials met with the four apostolic visitators: British Cardinal

Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, retired archbishop of Westminster, who will conduct the visitation of the archdiocese of Armagh; Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, who will visit the archdiocese of Dublin; Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto, who will conduct the visitation of the archdiocese of Cashel; and Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottawa, Ontario, who will visit the archdiocese of Tuam.

“Mindful of the tragic abuse of children that has taken place in Ireland, the participants discussed the particular aspects of this important visitation.”

The statement reiterated that the visitation is a sign of the pope’s desire to “offer his pastoral solicitude to the Church in Ireland” and that the visitation’s aim is to help the local Church “on her path to

renewal”.

Pope Benedict announced plans for a visitation in his March letter to Catholics in Ireland, promising to root out the problem that the Church had ignored in the past.

Irish bishops met with the pope in February after an independent study known as the Murphy Report said the Church operated with a “culture of secrecy” in dealing with charges of abuse by victims and their families in the archdiocese of Dublin from 1975 to 2004.

Other reports showed the problem was widespread throughout other dioceses and often involved the complicity of Irish authorities.

While the diocesan visitation initially will involve only the four archdioceses, other dioceses and religious orders will be visited at a later stage.

Pope Benedict also named Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, former rector of the US seminary in Rome, to lead a visitation of Irish seminaries, including the Pontifical Irish College in Rome.

The pope named two priests and two religious women to conduct a visitation of Irish religious orders.

Archbishop-designate Joseph Tobin, secretary of the Vatican congregation for religious, and Jesuit Fr Gero McLoughlin, promoter of Ignatian spirituality for the Jesuits’ British province, will visit men’s religious orders. US Sister Sharon Holland, a member of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and former Vatican official, and Irish Sister Mairin McDonagh, a member of the Religious of Jesus and Mary, will conduct the visitation of the women’s communities.—CNS

English, Welsh bishops urge kids to dress as saints for Halloween

BY SIMON CALDWELL

C Protesters demonstrate outside the Chinese foreign ministry in Hong Kong demanding the release of jailed Chinese pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo. Mr Liu won the Nobel Peace Prize for decades of non-violent struggle for human rights. Chinese characters on the placard read “Congratulate Liu Xiaobo winning Nobel Peace Prize” and “Respect the spirit of Nobel Peace Prize”.

PHOTO: BOBBY YIP/CNS/REUTERS

The mission of Carmel is to keep PRAYER alive in the Church.

ATHOLIC parents in England and Wales are being advised to celebrate Halloween by dressing their children as popular saints instead of witches and devils.

Youngsters should be made to look like Ss George, Lucy, Francis of Assisi or Mary Magdalene rather than celebrate death or evil or occult figures, according to a campaign endorsed by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

Adults are encouraged to place lights in their window “as a sign to passers-by that yours is a Christian household and Christ is your light” and to wear a white garment to symbolise their “allegiance to Christ, our light”.

They should not carve menacing or scary faces into pumpkins, but give them smiley expressions and crosses cut into the foreheads instead, the campaign advises.

The advice comes in a Web link contained in a press release from the bishops announcing that for the first time they are supporting “the Night of Light”, international campaign to reclaim Halloween as the Christian festival of “All Hallow’s Eve”.

This year the Catholic initiative will run in partnership with the English and Welsh bishops’ Home Mission Desk as a way of following up the September visit of Pope Benedict to Britain and to respond to his appeal to make faith more visible.

“Halloween is now the biggest commercial festival after Christmas and Easter, and it is time we reminded Christians of what it really is,” said Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton “On the evening of October 31 why not do something to make your faith respectfully seen and heard?” asked Bishop Conry, chairman of the bishops’ Department for Evangelisation and Catechesis.

“Light a candle or display publicly another kind of light, for example, perhaps alongside an image of Christ. This could be a powerful way in which we can show people that we have hope in someone other than ourselves,” he added. —CNS

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INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, 20 to October 26, 2010

5

Archbishop: Protection for Holocaust tribute: Verdi at death camp refugees insufficient W T HE number of refugees is growing and resettlement space is shrinking, highlighting a need for international solutions, a Vatican official said.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, who represents the Vatican to United Nations agencies in Geneva, told members of the executive committee of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees that he was particularly concerned with the issue of “refoulement”, the process by which a county forcibly returns refugees to their countries of origin.

The extensive reported and unreported incidents of such return and “push-back” to

unsafe countries show many vulnerable people are not receiving the protection they need, he said.

The committee, which the archbishop addressed in Geneva, examined the UN High Commissioner for Refugee’s protection and assistance to people of concern throughout the world.

Archbishop Tomasi said protection space for refugees is decreasing. He noted that despite new programmes, settlement of refugees has fallen well below the goals laid out by the UN commissioner’s office.

The archbishop also expressed concern about status

determination procedures—how a state decides who qualifies as a refugee.

Many governments want to “externalise” the procedure of refugee status determination, pushing the process on states close to a refugee’s country of origin, which often are places with records of human rights violations, he said.

Archbishop Tomasi said the Vatican is alarmed at this trend.

The Vatican supports status determination at the country of arrival, ensuring that refugees cannot be immediately returned to their home countries without a fair decision, he said.—CNS

Sudan referendum a ‘mere formality’

T

HE planned referendum on independence for Southern Sudan is simply a “formality” and efforts must be undertaken to assure that the fragile peace that exists in Sudan continues after the vote, said members of a delegation who will present their concerns to the United Nations.

Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Adwok Kur of Khartoum; Bish-

op Paride Taban, retired bishop of Torit; and John Ashworth, acting director of the Denis Hurley Peace Institute in Pretoria and an adviser to Catholic Relief Services in Sudan, told an audience at the University of Notre Dame and a nationwide audience watching via the Internet that the need to preserve peace after the referendum is vital to the region’s future.

They said a return to civil war would serve no purpose other than to preserve the power of the Islamic government based in Khartoum and allow for the continued oppression of ethnic and religious minorities.

The trio was touring the United States to express their concerns about growing tensions in Sudan as the referendum approaches.—CNS

HEN conductor Murry Sidlin visits the mass graves near the former concentration camp in Terezin, Czech Republic, he is convinced the “ground is unsettled”.

“This is not a place where people rest in peace. This is a place where the world turned its back and let these people die,” said Mr Sidlin, dean of the music school at The Catholic University of America in Washington.

For the past eight years, Mr Sidlin has been determined to pay homage to the men and women of the prison camp by focusing specifically on the interminable spirit of its choir of 150 prisoners and their conductor, Rafael Schaechter.

The choir performed Giuseppe Verdi’s “Requiem” 16 times from 1943 to 1944 before fellow prisoners, Nazi officials and visitors.

Today, the work of these prisoners lives on in a concert drama called Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezin created and conducted by Mr Sidlin.

The work includes a chorus and orchestra performing Verdi’s “Requiem” interspersed with testimony from surviving chorus members and an original Nazi propaganda film of the prison camp. It also includes actors who speak the words of the prison’s conductor

Conductor Murry Sidlin during a rehearsal of Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezin. Giuseppe Verdi’s “Requiem” was performed in Latin by Jewish prisoners at the Terezin concentration camp in former Czechoslovakia.

PHOTO: DEFIANT REQUIEM/CNS

and other prisoners.

It has been performed at concert halls around the world and poignantly re-enacted three times at the former concentration camp in Terezin, which was known in German as Theresienstadt. —CNS

Pope Benedict receives a Chilean flag at the Vatican. The flag was signed by each of the 33 miners who had been trapped underground for 69 days in a copper and gold mine near Copiapo, Chile, until they were rescued in mid-October. Left is Mgr Georg Gänswein, the pope’s personal secretary.

PHOTO: L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO VIA REUTERS/CNS

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6

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Pasta demo gives food for thought

Becoming independent I

T

HE Church in Africa has committed itself to work towards greater self-sufficiency, with a view to eventually becoming fully selfreliant. The goal is a transformation of the continent’s Church to a point where it can declare financial independence.

The goal was stated repeatedly at last year’s Second Synod of Bishops for Africa, which in its Propositions document noted: “As in the case of the early Church, the Church in Africa and its islands must develop an internal system for taking care of their needs.”

This is particularly important for Southern Africa at a time when foreign funding is becoming scarce and therefore more difficult to obtain. As the number of Catholics in the developed world shrinks, so does the fiscal pool that has traditionally funded Church activities and projects in missionary territories.

South Africa especially is widely regarded as a relatively affluent country with access to resources not available to many other African countries.

This does not mean that our region’s needs are diminished—on the contrary, there are areas where the local Church absolutely needs material help, such as in is initiatives on HIV/Aids.

Nonetheless, with international funding declining, the Church in Southern Africa must by force become more independent and consequently more mature.

The bishops of Southern Africa have taken an important and necessary practical step in that direction by setting up the SACBC Foundation, which aims to raise a minimum R50 million from the region’s Catholic community so as to replace international funding for the bishops’ conference’s activities, which are so vital to Church life.

Greater self-sufficiency will change the Church in fundamental ways. In the future, the works of the Church will not be funded mostly by agencies that deal with officials of the Church or those

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.

acting on their mandate. The channels of accountability will change. Church institutions—including the bishops’ conference—will have to account to the laity (whose money funds their activities) in ways that we may not quite realise yet.

Indeed, the laity will need to be increasingly involved in the management and oversight of Church funds, and be equipped with the requisite competence to do so. The experience of parish pastoral councils and their finance committees may be instructive, in their successes and failures. An independent national council for the laity might well be a pillar of the local Church’s drive towards self-reliance.

As the Church becomes more self-sufficient through the support of the laity, its hierarchy will need to foster and, if necessary, rebuild its relationship with those Catholics who are being asked to open their purses.

It is evident that there are points of rupture in that relationship. The misgivings expressed by some about the building of a new chancery in Johannesburg and the cathedral centre in Durban may have less to do with the actual need for these projects— which appear to be essential— and more to do with a lack of confidence in the Catholic Church as an institution.

As part of the local Church’s self-reliance programme, that trust needs to be built up and restored.

We are still at an early stage on the way towards financial independence in the African Church. There will be obstacles caused by widespread poverty, poor fiscal management, unpredictable commitment by lay Catholics and external factors such as natural disasters, civil unrest or war.

We must not be discouraged by setbacks and disappointments. The transformation of the Church in Africa is necessary for its future. The laity, clergy and hierarchy will have to be active collaborators to keep spreading the Good News on our continent.

N late September a Dutch TV news programme reported a 106th birthday.

“Grandma Sien”, the interviewer asked the ancient celebrant, “How do you feel?” “Ghastly!”

“Happy 106th birthday!” “What?

Not another year older! As far as I’m concerned that’s not necessary!”

At first I agreed with Grandma Sien. However, a week later I read in Fr Emil letter (September 29) that his own 106-year-old mother gives pasta demonstrations and donates the proceeds to Radio Veritas. The divergent attitudes to

extreme old age on the parts of Grandma Sien and Mrs Blaser brought home to me that it remains up to ageing individuals whether to control their circumstances or allow themselves to be controlled by them.

Since a watched kettle takes ages to boil, it could take a long time for us to die. If we make a virtue of necessity, we can grow spiritually by the purification of our stubborn hearts brought about by the losses and indignities of old age. Having fewer direct family responsibilities gives us more time to pray for the conversion of sin-

ners and for the souls in purgatory. Our gifts of faith, hope and love can be employed in inspiring non-believers, encouraging the hopeless and consoling the unloved. By their quiet acceptance, even those who are too ill to take care of themselves can send up powerful cries for mercy for all God’s children.

So let the years roll on! Encouraged by role models like Mrs Blaser, may we celebrate rather than deplore the remaining birthdays of our alloted span.

Ad multos annos.

Luky Whittle, Kroonstad

That showed ‘em!

Indeed the Church advocates for laity’s sharing in the ministerial priesthood. That is fine, but yet the laity seem to grab all the duties and roles of the priest. In one parish I serve, not as resident priest (outstation), a parishioner who is a caretaker as “a volunteer” once asked a token of appreciation on a monthly basis. That money is daylight stealing because it does not feature in the church expenses. I asked him: “Is this a payment to you for opening the church, or setting the altar?”

To make matters worse, this parishioner once said: “Father, leave the money matters to me, and you do the spiritual part.”

This statement in a misunderstanding of the role of a priest, because canon law is clear that “all the spiritual and material aspects of a parish are under the care of a parish priest who is appointed”, while the parishioners—financial committee and parish pastoral councils—are there to assist the priest in his administration by advice, consultation, expertise for the good of the body of Christ, the Church.

Can we go back to the time before the First Vatican Council in which a priest was the manager of all the departments of the church, in charge of finance, catechesis, altar servers, and the Church was unchallenged?

Parishioners see a priest as one of the hired servants like in other religions.

I, like most old folks in my parish, see a priest in the real sense of the word persona Christi, in the person of Christ, and this priest is

not hired by the parishioners or possessed or controlled or confined to them.

Since he’s alone in an area of more than one parish, he therefore asks the laity to help him—not to control, rule or override him in his duties.

A priest is trained for his ministry, and I hope that we can supply parishioners with the duties and rights of priests, as well as duties and rights of parishioners in order to avoid conflicts in the service of God’s Church and his people.

Name withheld

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HE media build-up weeks ahead of Pope Benedict’s state visit to Britain created the impression that the pontiff was to weather a gauntlet of atheist and gay lobbyists represented by people such as Richard Dawkins (atheist biologist) Peter Tatchell (nihilist) Stephen Fry (actor), Geoffrey Robinson (lawyer) and Phillip Pullman (writer), who tried desperately to organise anti-pope demonstrations around issues of sex abuse, abortion, contraception and gay rights, with the help of documentaries aired on Channel 4 TV. They were joined by the rabid anti-Catholic Rev Ian Paisley. We were even promised a citizen arrest of our beloved pope.

How surprised must they have been when they saw the enthusiastic multitudes of every race and age pouring out into the streets and into the stadiums where they sang heartily at Mass and professed their faith?

The multitudes were met by a happy, serene, diminutive holy man, who spoke in his third language, softly and with respect. His authority was unmistakable, his intellect compelling.

There was no beleaguered pontiff or Catholic Church, just a disappointed group of liberal secularists.

Malcolm Bagley, Cape Town

Hands off!

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WOULD like to make a commend on the wonderful article by Chris Moerdyk “Volunteers from hell” (July 21).

I have been a priest for nearly ten years, and may I first thank God that I am speaking from experience.

God gave me a gift that not many priests have had in their ministry. I have worked a month in Britain, a month in Germany, a month or two in Cape Town, in Mpumalanga, and now in the impoverished area of the Eastern and Western Cape.

Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate.

Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

Sisters of Notre Dame

Enough is enough

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Y family, friends and I are really concerned by the general trend of letters in The Southern Cross by people that took a vow to uphold and submit to the teachings of the Church at their confirmation.

The continual bad-mouthing of the Church really breaks our faith and Church down. The beauty and continued existence of the Church is in the purity of it’s orthodoxy.

People outside the Church who read the letters first get only a dark picture of the Church. For us it is definitely not uplifting either. We have therefore decided to stop our subscription to The Southern Cross and rather stick to L’ Osservatore Romano A word of advice: it is our faith.

Be proud of it and live it out. If you get so far down the road in your thinking as in the letters in the September 1 edition, submit your genuine questions and queries through the official channels in the Church to get an answer. Disgruntled letters in The Southern Cross are useless— unless the newspaper considers hiring an apologetist, who is then given the opportunity to explain the reasons behind the Church’s official positions that are being railed against.

Kiewiet Vlok, Stilfontein

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Sisters of Notre Dame use many ways to spread the message of God’s Goodness.

If you are interested in joining them in this mission contact: Vocation Director, P O Box 476, Kroonstad, 9500; Tel: 05621 51003; E-mail: sndkroon@act.co.za ; or visit www.sndden.org

If you wish to know more about us, contact:

The Vocations Directress at PO Box 2912, Middelburg, 1050.

Tel (013) 243 3410, 072 213 4671

FOCUS Ron Rolheiser OMI

Point of Reflection

Struggling to be inside the moment

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URING the last years of his life, Thomas Merton lived in a hermitage in an attempt to find more solitude in his life. But solitude is a very elusive thing, and he found that it was continually escaping him.

One morning however he sensed that, for this moment at least, he had found it. But what he experienced was somewhat of a surprise to him.

Solitude, it turns out, is not some altered state of consciousness or even some heightened sense of God or the transcendent in our lives.

Solitude, as he experienced it, was being fully inside his own skin, inside the present moment, gratefully aware of the immense richness that is contained inside of ordinary human experience.

Solitude consists in being enough inside of your own life to actually experience what is there.

But that’s not easy. It’s rare that we find ourselves truly inside of the present moment. Why? Because of the way we are built. We are overcharged for this world. When God put us into this world, as the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes tells us, he put “timelessness” into our hearts and because of that we don’t make easy peace with our lives.

We read this in the famous passage about the rhythm of the seasons in Ecclesiastes. There is a time and a season for everything, we are told: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to gather in what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal…so the text goes on. But after listing this natural rhythm of time and the seasons, the author ends with these words: God has made everything suitable for its own time, but has put timelessness into the human heart so that human beings are out of sync with the rhythms of this world from beginning to end.

The Hebrew word used to express “timelessness” is Ha’olam, a word suggesting “eternity” and “transcendence”. Some English translations put it this way: God has put a sense of past and future into our hearts. Perhaps that captures it best, at least in terms of how we generally experience this in our lives.

We know from experience how difficult it is to be inside the present moment because the past and the future won’t leave us alone. They are forever colouring the present.

The past haunts us with half-forgotten lullabies and melodies that trigger memories, with loves that have been found and lost, with wounds that have never healed, and with inchoate feelings of nostalgia, regret, and wanting to cling to something that once was. The past is forever sowing restlessness into the present moment.

And the future impales itself into the present as well, looming as promise and threat, forever asking for our attention, forever sowing anxiety into our lives, and forever stripping us of the capacity to simply drink in the present. The present is forever being coloured by obsessions, heartaches, headaches, and anxieties that have little to do with people we are sitting with at the table.

Philosophers and poets have had various names for this: Plato called it “a madness that comes from the gods”; Hindu poets have called it “a nostalgia for the infinite”; Shakespeare speaks of “immortal longings”, and Augustine, in perhaps the most famous naming of them all, called it an incurable restlessness that God has put into the human heart to keep it from finding a home in something that is less than infinite and eternal: You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.

And so it is very difficult to be peacefully present to our own lives, restful inside of our own skins. But this “torment”, as T.S. Eliot, once named it, has its purpose.

Henri Nouwen, in a remarkable passage that both names the struggle and suggests what it is ultimately for, puts it this way: Our life is a short time in expectation, a time in which sadness and joy kiss each other at every moment. There is a quality of sadness that pervades all the moments of our life. It seems that there is no such thing as a clear-cut pure joy, but that even in the most happy moments of our existence we sense a tinge of sadness. In every satisfaction, there is an awareness of limitations. In every success, there is the fear of jealousy. Behind every smile, there is a tear. In every embrace, there is loneliness. In every friendship, distance. And in all forms of light, there is the knowledge of surrounding darkness.

But this intimate experience in which every bit of life is touched by a bit of death can point us beyond the limits of our existence. It can do so by making us look forward in expectation to that day when our hearts will be filled with perfect joy, a joy that no one shall take away from us.  Fr Rolheiser’s website is at www. ronrolheiser.com

‘She put in all she had’

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OME years ago, I was talking to a friend who was running a project. When he told me that the money for the project came from the local people and business houses of the country in which he was working, I didn’t take him seriously.

I didn’t believe him.

Perhaps I was too submerged in the traditional ways of Church projects. I’m converted now and proud of it. Besides agreeing with my friend and acknowledging him as a prophet, I believe that unless the African Church turns to local people and local institutions to finance her charitable works, she will continue running big projects on foreign aid but be impoverished of prophetic voice. She will have very little, if anything, to teach people about what she does.

As part of the legacy of missionaries, the Church in Africa has been running various institutions in the service of the people using structures that cost far beyond what the local people can sustain. Missionaries from the West often sourced funds from the connections they have at home. This often creates problems when a local priest takes over such an expensive venture, but without the same access to funds or connections.

Besides, those costly institutions, there are also missionaries who have been helping people, especially with bursaries, for deserving cases. But that has created an image of a rich Church with rich priests. Consequently, when people approach a priest for money they are simply not ready to accept that he may not have money to give them. He is then seen as stingy and will never be thought of as a good priest.

So it is easy for a priest to abandons himself to asking for money round the globe. True, many priests are working in places where people are really in need and are suffering.

So if he can do something, such solidarity in itself is a good thing. At the same time, if we are going to respond to every local problem with money from outside so as to impress people, then that is counter witness.

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he struggles and even the humiliation a priest may have to undergo in sourcing such funds are simply not known. Worse still, the extent of generosity of those who offer the money is not always appreciated.

It’s a pity that gestures of generous sacrifice is sometimes perceived by the beneficiary as the false image of rich Europeans who don’t know what to do with their money.

In the light of such a mentality of receiving, it’s not surprising that often the budget for a new project is drawn up in dollars or euros. This

Sr Bernadette Duffy P.O. Box 48775 HERCULES 0030 Tel: 012 379 8559

Evans Chama

Echoes of African Synod must stop.

It’s not just about money either— it’s a whole mentality. Look around in charitable organisations, and what do we see? We find European students who come to help as volunteers. Where are our African young people, who may be doing nothing when they are not studying? Why shouldn’t they spend their time usefully doing some charity work?

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n Proposition 17 of the Second African Synod, the Church is called to emulate the early Christian community, to renew her engagement in the service of the poor. It notes that the African Church has to create an internal system to take care of those needs.

The maturity of the African Church would require of us to train ourselves to respond to the needs around us first with our own means.

Not with a big structure, not with a big budget, but with a big heart.

If a priest thinks of doing something more structured, let the parish community take that responsibility.

If the people can see a priest in this exercise asking for money from local people, with all the humiliation and the labour it involves, that will go a long way. It will perhaps not reap millions in funding, but it will educate the people. They will have a better appreciation of what the Church does and, perhaps, learn something.

It is here that I feel that the African Church should rise, take up her pallet and walk; to grow in charity that goes beyond pushing a coin into the Sunday collection box; to put heads together to discern and act on how to take care of the needy in the community, and not to be mere administrators of what others have given.

Do I have a problem with money coming from outside? Not at all! I’m just trying to re-read the Gospel as an African. The disciples asked Jesus to send people away to buy themselves food, but he taught that we ourselves give them the little we have to eat (Mt 14:15-16). It’s only evangelical.

I know many people are struggling for their own needs. But where is the African hospitality and solidarity we sing about? Indeed, unless we re-read the message of Christ as an African Church, the whole fuss of a maturing African Church, inculturation, remains just nice talk.

Sr Geraldine Barry P.O. Box 19564 LENTEGEUR 7786 Tel: 021 374 3486 Cell: 072 871 7641

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

7

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

For drug addicts General Intention: That through the support of the Christian community, all victims of addiction may find in the power of our saving God, strength for a radical life change.

CCORDING to the psychologist Carl Jung, “every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism”. So addiction is potentially the problem of everyman (and woman).

While it’s certainly true that anyone can become addicted to common things like sweets or work, it has to be said that there are addictions and addictions. My GP suggests that the trick is to exchange the more damaging addictions for less damaging or even for helpful ones.

It’s better to be addicted to sport than to heroin or fast driving, he very sensibly argues.

On the other hand, the awareness of our universal capacity for addiction, which is rooted in our obsessive sides, can help us to understand seriously addicted people and guard against the tendency to shut them out of our lives and consciousness, as if they are modern lepers. Most people these days know of a family—perhaps an extremely respectable one—with a young member who has or has had a problem with drugaddiction.

Being hooked on highly addictive substances has serious long-term consequences for these people’s physical and mental health. It doesn’t bear thinking about, and so we try not to. Nor is it our first instinct to offer help or sympathy.

However, this practical prayer intention invites us to reach out to our neighbours and friends whose lives are blighted by addiction in the family. We can do this with prayer and the reassurance that we do not consider them beyond the pale. This is something that can happen to anyone and to any family.

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Keeping it Catholic Missionary Intention: That the Latin American Churches may move forward with the continentwide mission proposed by their bishops, assuming their share of the universal missionary task of God’s people.

ATIN America is contested missionary territory. Catholicism seemed to reign supreme there, but US-based Pentecostal and Evangelical missionaries have made considerable inroads into the Catholic Church’s traditional flock.

A BBC report from Guatemala said that “estimates suggest that over four in ten now follow the [Pentecostal] faith in Guatemala”. Pentecostal expansion is in fact one of the most rapid increases in Christian adherence in the history of the Christian Church.

Building on its precursors in the 19th-century British “Holiness Movement”, it began a phase of powerful growth in 1901 in Topeka in Kansas under its leader Charles Fox Parham. Incidentally it was also brought to South Africa in 1910 by John Graham Lake where it became the Apostolic Faith Mission and the Zion Christian Church.

Opinions differ as to why Pentecostalism has been so successful in Catholic South America.

Some say it was because an emphasis on liberation theology and development alienated people from Catholicism. Others maintain that when liberation theology was undermined by the determined opposition of John Paul II, this left a vacuum which the Pentecostalists were only too happy to fill.

Whatever the truth of the history, the fact is that Protestant Pentecostalism is now part of South America, as it is in South Africa, and Catholicism will have to learn how to live with it, and perhaps learn something from it.

It is a difficult task, often complicated by the political scene. The BBC journalist in Guatemala takes the line that many of the poor, indigenous Mayan people joined the Pentecostals because they were “dominated and oppressed by centuries of Catholic Spanish rule…”

So the Catholic Church will need our prayers in its missionary efforts.

L

8

MISSION

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

Will the laity rise through Team Ministry?

The Team Ministry concept—in which the pastoral care of a number of parishes is entrusted to a team of priests working with deacons, religious and lay people—is being introduced in George. It may be a first for South Africa. BISHOP EDWARD ADAMS, retired of Oudtshoorn, explains.

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HE teaching of Vatican II is put into canonical language in Canon 208 when it says: “Flowing from their rebirth in Christ, there is a genuine equality of dignity and action among all of Christ’s faithful. Because of this equality they all contribute, each according to his or her own condition and office to the building up of the Body of Christ.”

This teaching of Vatican II is found in Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, which says: “Although

by Christ’s will some are established teachers, dispensers of the mysteries and pastors for the others, there remains, nevertheless, a true equality between all with regard to the dignity and to the activities which is common to all the faithful in the building up of the Body of Christ” (42).

Canon 517,1 spells out the concept of team ministry by which the pastoral care of a number of parishes is entrusted to a team of priests working with deacons, religious and lay people.

Each parish retains its own iden-

tity and each has its own parish pastoral council, finance committee, and where possible a resident priest. A specific priest will have responsibility for the management of the individual parish church.

Overall responsibility and pastoral planning will, however, be shared by common counsel and according to a plan determined by members of the team.

The work of each team will be coordinated by a priest moderator.

His role will be one of primus inter pares (first among equals), since each of the team members has an equal responsibility within the entire pastoral area. Each of the priest members of the team will celebrate Mass in each of the parish churches and is bound to fulfil the duties and obligations of a parish priest referred to in canons 528-530. In addition each priest is responsible to the ordinary and to the faithful of the parishes.

This form of team ministry differs from the Priests Fraternals where a group of secular priests live in community but still do their pastoral activities in specific parishes. Secular Priests Fraternities could be considered a forerunner of this new way of evangelising. Team Ministry as described above is all embracing—it includes priests, deacons, religious and laity.

At present experimentation is taking place in the six parishes in the George area of the diocese of Oudtshoorn.

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ecause the concept is so new in South Africa it will take time for everyone to adapt to it. This is especially the case for present

In his article, Bishop-emeritus Edward Adams explains how the Team Ministry concept is working in George, in the diocese of Oudtshoorn.

parish priests who will find it difficult to relinquish certain powers and for laypeople not to have their “own” parish priest. However, as time passes and people begin to understand the mission of the Church in the world and their share in that mission, the new evangelisation will take shape!

In the George experiment the team initially meets monthly— that is all the priests, deacons, superiors of the religious, the chairpersons of the parish pastoral councils and finance committees of the six parishes in the

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area.

They are busy familiarising themselves with the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference’s Pastoral Plan, “Community Serving Humanity”; the priorities that flowed from the Inter Diocesan Fora, such as Family Life, Youth, Adult Education, Liturgy, Catecheses and Justice and Peace issues. They also study the diocesan policies emanating from these priorities.

All meetings begin with a session of Lectio Divina, faith sharing and evaluation of work done during which the pros and the cons are discussed honestly and frankly.

Then the planning for the next month takes place, a time-table with the programme of action is then circulated to all the parishes in the area.

The six priorities mentioned above are the six pillars on which the bishops’ Pastoral Plan will be implemented in a very structured way in the area. For example, the Catholic Women’s League and the St Anne’s Sodality will fall under the Family Life portfolio, youth clubs, Chiro, altar servers under Youth and so on. A seventh pillar of finance and administration has been added to address the issue of management of the team ministry at parish level.

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very important component in the Team Ministry is the parish pastoral council (PPC), the body which manages and implements the team ministry’s pastoral plan at the parish level. Where PPCs do not function nor exist in parishes, the prospect of team ministry is very minimal. The PPC provides the laity and the priest-in-residence an opportunity to deepen collaboration in ministry at parish levels.

A workshop was held specifically for the leadership of PPCs and PFCs of the six parishes to help them align their PPC structure and operations with the vision of the pastoral plan of the team ministry. PPCs were assisted and then tasked to develop a similar Parish Pastoral Plan along the pastoral priorities of the Team and the SACBC. This was done to secure a consistency in evangelisation from national, diocesan to parish levels.

The PPC appoints (where these do not yet exist) parish coordinators for each of the pastoral priorities. These parish-based coordinators meet on a regular basis to be empowered and assisted to fulfil their functions in their respective PPCs and in their parishes.

Organising parish ministry around pastoral priorities provides lay groups to find each other in ministry compared to a situation where they would normally pursue their own agendas at the expense of parish unity of purpose. Potential for conflict is also greatly reduced.

Priests too have for the first time an opportunity to plan their ministry according to the pastoral priorities. Planning reduces personal frustration in the face of huge workloads. The priest does not have to do everything himself anymore but has now parish teams made up of individuals and sodalities to work together with him. Budgeting takes on a new meaning. Parishes are able to target specific funds towards these pastoral priorities.

For the first time some parishes are now able to fundraise for identified activities in the parish emanating from these priorities. Also parishioners do not feel so isolated from one parish to another.

There is much more interparish connection and shared events, thereby giving witness to a

greater Catholic presence in the town.

Each priest, deacon, lay member of the Team indicates the area in which they want to be involved, for example in liturgy or adult education. This means that the person will have to be expert in that area in order to train others.

Already a question was raised in connection with liturgy training.

How will the liturgical celebrations be done in the parishes of different cultural groups? The answer given was that when the liturgy committees of the different parishes are trained in liturgy, they will be given the principles governing liturgy but will apply these principles to the culture of the various ethnic groups.

Just as in catecheses, the Baptismal Catechumenal method is to be implemented in the whole Conference area. One hopes that through these six pillars a solid structure will evolve in clusters of parishes where it is practicable to implement team ministry that will eventually have a ripple effect throughout the country.

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he sleeping giant, the laity, must be awoken if the Church is to fulfil her role in the world.

Vatican II used terminology such as, collegiality, co-responsibility, subsidiarity and solidarity. This type of team ministry will develop a new style of leadership in the Church which is really nothing new; it was present at the very foundation of the Church.

Sadly enough as the Church grew and the hierarchy developed, this spirit of collegiality and co-responsibility gradually dimmed as more and more Church laws came into play.

The signs of the times are very clear.

Even if we were to experience a flood of vocations to the priesthood and the religious life, the present trend will not alter. The secular mass media and the electronic giants are enthralling the masses and indoctrinating them. We shall have to become the David overcoming the Goliath through trust in the Lord.

Introducing this new type of team ministry is trusting in the Lord. In the primitive Church something so radical was not easily accepted by the Jewish converts, but through the Holy Spirit’s guidance the Church did grow enormously.

It is with interest that I am observing the progress of the experimentation in the George area. It was not something that one person thought out and implemented immediately. It was a process of prayer and consultation with different groups of people in the area concerned and the consensus was to implement the concept and with Gamaliel of old we say: “If it comes from God you will not be able to destroy them, you may even find yourselves fighting against God!” (Acts 5:34).

Different parts of the Catholic world are using this new method of evangelising and my hope is to see the laity being truly empowered to carry out their mission in the world and not just being Father’s advisors in temporal matters.

We have become priests, prophets and kings through our baptism, and we have received these functions for a purpose, that is, to make the Kingdom of God present in the world. Team Ministry can awaken the giant to challenge the Goliaths of this world and give David a rest! If this comes from God no one will be able to stop it.

The sleeping giant, the laity, must be awoken if the Church is to fulfil her role in the world.

 Bishop Edward Adams headed the diocese of Oudtshoorn from 1983 to 2010.

MISSION

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

9

Africa’s Church must kick off aid crutches Much of the Church in Africa still relies on foreign funding which is slowly decreasing. For the Church in Southern Africa and on the continent it is becoming necessary to work towards greater self-sufficiency, as CLAIRE MATHIESON reports.

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VERY year, the Church sets aside the second-last Sunday of October to observe World Mission Sunday—this year on October 24. On that day, Catholics around the world renew their commitment to the Church’s missionary activities, and support these through contributions to the Pontifical Mission Society.

The Southern African pastoral region—South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland—is still considered missionary territory. As such, it falls under the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.

As mission territory and in light of its turbulent political past, South Africa has long benefited from the attention of international donor organisation. This, however, is changing.

After recent political and social successes—ranging from the establishment of a functioning democracy to the successfully staged football World Cup and a strong currency— donor bodies are beginning to see South Africa as far less needy than other countries.

As a result of that, international funding for South African projects— secular or religious—is diminishing.

It is an issue that the Church in Southern Africa, and on the whole continent, is trying to pre-empt.

The idea is not new. Some years ago the Interregional Meeting of Bishops in Southern Africa (Imbisa) resolved that the years 2004-07 would be spent trying bring the level of self-reliance up to 15% from where it was in three areas: finance, personnel and infrastructure.

By the end of the three-year period, “there was progress, but very uneven”, said Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban. “Some had achieved progress in the area of finances; others in that of personnel and still others in the provision of the facilities,

programmes and skills to be less dependent on outside sources.”

Last year’s Second Synod of Bishops for Africa discussed how the Church on the continent could become a more effective agent of transformation.

The synod confirmed that the Church in Africa needed to be made of up models of good governance for these very ideals while maintaining an African identity. It was time for Africa to start helping Africa.

In short, the African synod placed a priority on greater independence and self-sufficiency.

Rosanne Shields, development director of the Rural Development Support Program (RDSP), an associate body of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), said it was important for South Africa to start becoming more self-sufficient for two main reasons.

Firstly, South Africa’s political situation had improved—meaning there are many other countries in Africa that were in greater need of support.

Secondly, it is the moral duty of South Africans to support their fellow citizens in need.

“We should not always look overseas [for assistance]. South Africa is a wealthy country; we need to focus on spreading that wealth around and getting those who make immense profits from South African labour and resources to give back through responsible social investment.”

The SACBC encourages efforts of the Church to become self-sufficient—and not only in terms of finances.

From parents teaching catechism classes to leaders emerging from their communities to assist those in need, the bishops said the progress being made was not only encouraging but also entirely necessary.

In a pastoral letter issued in late September, the bishops called on parishes and other Church institutions to discover how reliant they were on foreign aid, and to re-evaluate their needs accordingly.

“These donations from outside, especially from friends overseas, are like crutches with which we still need to walk,” the bishops said, “The time has come to free ourselves of these crutches. They prevent us from being ourselves and hinder us from walking upright and straight.”

Parishioners bless themselves as the leave Sunday Mass in Nima, Ghana.

The Church in Africa is working to become self-sustaining—and this plan includes the participation of the laity.

PHOTO: NANCY WIECHEC, CNS

W

hile the bishops’ ambitions are clear, the goal of independence is not a short-term plan. It is necessary for parishes to start planning in order to become self-sufficient in the future, the bishops’ letter said.

The bishops’ conference itself is looking at ways to increase funding from within the country, making calls for individuals and business to support the growth of the Catholic Church in the region. The planning which the bishops called for has already begun in many places.

Consolata Father Rocco Marra said that until just a few years ago his parish of Osizweni in Dundee diocese, KwaZulu-Natal, was almost exclusively funded by international support. Today, he said, parishioners have taken on more responsibility and “especially [try] to participate in the community”.

The archdiocese of Durban is “a lot more self-reliant in almost all areas than we had been formerly”, Cardinal Napier said. The archdiocese has for the past four decades funded local missionary needs through the Mission Mail Appeal system, which is run by a fund-raising company.

“It has served us well, but it has

also had the effect of keeping us dependent,” Cardinal Napier said.

“In an effort to break the ‘stranglehold’ that foreign funding can exercise on the mind, as well as on the pocket, we have tried in the last ten or so years to ensure that foreign funding is used more for capital and developmental projects than for running expenses.”

That goal has not been fully achieved, the cardinal said. “Mission parishes still have to be subsidised, and our local resources, chiefly through levies imposed on all parishes, are not enough to meet all running cost. So we are still quite dependent on outside funds.”

Cardinal Napier said that it was difficult to communicate that “the archdiocese is not exactly ‘oozing money from every pore’”.

“It is quite clear that we will have to turn much more determinedly to local sources, including Catholic business men and women, for pastoral needs, and government and other business resources for projects of a social, educational and community nature,” Cardinal Napier said.

“The advantages of local funding are obvious. The most obvious is the sense of ownership that people get

from knowing that they have been able to do things for themselves.

“Another area where we will have to put a lot more effort is that of developing a spirit of volunteerism, especially among youth and young adults. We could start by planting the seed of converting the so-called ‘gap-year’ between matric and tertiary studies or professional training into a year of voluntary service to and in the community where such is most needed,” the cardinal said.

The RDSP’s Mrs Shields said if the Church is going to become financially self-sufficient, it is necessary for people to do more than just “pay up.” It is important for people to feel a part of the Church saying: “We are all Church, not just those wearing the robes”, she said.

The objectives of self-sufficiency can be accomplished only when people were “given the opportunity to participate in decision making and their skills should be better used”, Mrs Shields said. Fr Marra echoed that view, saying that support “comes when people are educated in sense of belonging”.

The Church in Africa is the fastest growing territory in the Catholic communion. Africa is rich in resources and needs to use these. Fr Marra said in order for the Church to continue to grow it is the community that needs to be completely involved. More than that, he said, foreign aid sometimes feels patronising. While foreign funding was still needed, he said, money and service from within the community held a much higher value.

“I think that until South Africa has a leader like St Francis, people won’t understand that they are the Body of Christ today. Commitment is not to give sometimes, but to give wholly as Jesus did”.

The SACBC has prioritised selfsufficiency efforts. While complete independence is unlikely, the bishops said, it is essential for the Southern African Church to look after itself—not only for financial purposes but also identity and better governance.

Fr Marra said South Africa has a long way to go towards self-sufficiency, but the goal outweighed the hard work to get there, “because the one who gives with generosity receives happiness”. It was time, he said, for South Africa to do both.

10

MISSION

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

Mission and action: Priest behind the camera The priest’s mission comes in different forms. For a California priest, the mission field is film, as he tells FELIX RIVERA.

A

PRIEST in Hollywood has found his calling—working in the media.

Fr David Guffey, a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, has been the director of film and television at Family Theater Productions since 2008.

“I see my work as a way to preach and open up dialogue,” Fr Guffey said. “Of course, I did what the Holy Father asked priests to do: the work of the Church through the media.”

In his message for this year’s celebration of World Communications Day, Pope Benedict urged priests around the world to use websites, videos, blogs and other outlets as tools of pastoral ministry.

Fr Guffey’s interest in media began in high school, when he started experimenting in photography. “The owner of the local newspaper taught me how to use the darkroom and would let me use the papers’ room for my own work.”

At the University of Notre Dame—a Catholic institution in Indiana—where he majored in American studies, he switched gears and began writing for the campus newspaper and working in radio.

After following the call to the

priesthood, he continued his interaction with the press, eventually attending conferences and workshops on public relations.

Working in Phoenix, Arizona, to help raise the money for the ministry to the poor and homeless, he turned to the press, continuing to develop a repertoire.

After a stint in various other duties from 1996 to 2004, Fr Guffey returned to work in the media as an intern at Family Theater Productions.

“I have always been impressed with how much the media shaped the hearts and minds of the people who were going to become priests,” he said.

Today, Fr Guffey works as an editor of a half-hour television show, a part of a series titled “Manifest Mysteries”. The show is an anthology of different stories designed to relate the Gospel to real life situations; it connects the mysteries of the rosary to the experiences of fictional teen characters.

“On one level, I hope the stories are just entertaining, but I also want people to really engage [with] the idea or the story,” Fr Guffey said. To him, it is all about opening a new door to viewing the world.

Aside from working at Family Theater Productions, Fr Guffey is also in residence at St Monica parish in Los Angeles. He referred to the balance between his two positions as a “wonderful combination”.

“The work I do in the parish keeps me in touch with families and allows me to serve the wider Church in a personal way,” he said.

Even though he serves as a producer for the theatre company, Fr Guffey doesn’t keep it a secret that he is a priest on set, celebrating daily Mass for the company employees.

Jason Kientz, an actor who works with Fr Guffey, said he enjoyed the environment on set.

“I’ve never worked on a set where most people were so grounded in a faith; some are Catholic, some are Protestant, and some are Jewish,” Mr Kientz said.

Kientz said he was surprised when Fr Guffey decided to start and end each day with a prayer, something he had never seen on a set before.

“He is the ideal person of faith: the best way to be a minister to others is to live by example,” he said. “That is what Fr Guffey did.”

Aside from his role as a priest on set, Mr Kientz said Fr Guffey was also a talented filmmaker, one who wanted to “make the message more accessible to young kids”.

To Mr Kientz, the producerpriest has brought an aspect of living by faith that grounded him in his role as a teenager in high school who is cynical about the power of prayer.

Marianna Vorobyeva, the makeup artist for the production, said that Fr Guffey helped everyone become a family.

“When anyone was having a bad day, Fr Guffey would turn anything into a positive,” she said.

On set, Fr Guffey has never lost control, she said, bringing a “light and sunshine” to the production.—CNS

Holy Cross Father David Guffey on the set of one of his films.

PHOTO: BRIAN HILLNER, FAMILY THEATER PRODUCTIONS

Have you found your mission in life?

All Souls Day Tuesday, 2 November 2010

KRUGER PARK

His Grace, Archbishop Emeritus Lawrence Henry, will celebrate Holy Mass for the Souls in Purgatory at 10:00 a.m.

VIVA SAFARIS

on Tuesday, 2 November 2010 in the All Souls Chapel, Woltemade Cemetery, Maitland, Gate 1.

Please make every effort to attend this Mass.

For further information contact Colette Thomas 083 412 4936 or 021 531 0550

(Member of SATSA)

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

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

www.volunteersafaris.co.za St. Jude Society P.O.Box 22230 7974 FISH HOEK

Reservations:

Father Xico with partially completed church building

082 450 9930 Trevor 082 444 7654 Piero 082 506 9641 Anthony

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The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

11

Extract from the message of Pope Benedict XVI For Mission Sunday 24 October 2010 4. Together in Mission

1. Mission month

Not just individual believers, but parishes and dioceses are called to an ever greater openness to missionary cooperation, so that the proclamation of the Gospel can reach all peoples, cultures, races and places. On Mission Sunday I invite all believers to be active participants in the task of the church to proclaim the Gospel. Missionary zeal has always been the mark of the vitality of a

The mission month of October, especially Mission Sunday, offers the entire People of God the occasion for renewing their commitment to proclaim the Gospel.

Church and missionary cooperation among Churches is a unique testimony of the unity and solidarity that makes them credible heralds of Saving Love.

2. Celebrating the Eucharist The Eucharist is the source and summit of the mission of the Church. There we encounter the Love of God that transforms our existence, enabling us to live in communion with Jesus and offer a credible witness and a reason for our hope. We reflect on the Father’s loving plan for all people and seek to love them as He does. The love that we celebrate is not something we can keep to ourselves: it demands to be shared with all.

What the world needs is God’s love; it needs to encounter Christ and to believe in him.

5. Prayer and Material Support Please support the younger Churches by your prayers. In spite of present economic difficulties, please also give them material support. The Mission Sunday collection organised by the Pontifical Mission Societies, to whom I express my gratitude, will go towards the support of priests, seminarians, religious and catechists in distant missionary lands.

3. Revealing Jesus

6. Missionaries

Proclaiming the Gospel belongs to the entire Church as the Church is missionary by her very nature. The men and women of our time, perhaps at times unconsciously, ask believers to not only to “speak” of Jesus but to “make Jesus visible,” to make the Redeemer’s Face shine in every corner of the earth as they bear witness that they have found in Jesus the meaning and truth about their life.

I wish to acknowledge the great work of all missionaries, who proclaim the gospel in distant and difficult places, often at the cost of their own lives. Offer them your friendship, closeness and support. May God fill them with spiritual fervour and profound joy.

7. Generous Response It is the plan of God that the whole human race might form one people of God and be built up into one temple of the Holy Spirit.

May each of us respond as generously as Mary did to the call to reach out and share and bring this plan to fulfilment.

12

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

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PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES - SUBSIDY GRANTS FOR THE YEAR 2010

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The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

13

PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES - SUBSIDY GRANTS FOR THE YEAR 2010

PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES OF SOUTHERN AFRICA COLLECTION RESULTS 2009-2010

14

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The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26 2010

TOGETHER IN MISSION

(COURTESY: PMS IRELAND)

Last year many Catholics overseas celebrated Mission Sunday praying earnestly for the safety and speedy release of Fr Michael Sinnott who had been kidnapped in the Philippines. The seventy-nine year old Columban Missionary had been taken at gunpoint from his mission in Pagadian City on October 11, 2009 and only released after thirty-one long days.

The shock of his abduction was sorely felt among his parishioners. “I was very sad upon learning that evening that he had been kidnapped,” wrote Corazon Mendoza, a public School Teacher in Pagadian. “It was a sleepless night. I was troubled and wondered: How is Fr Mick? Where is he now? What is happening to him right now? My pillow was soaked with tears, while I called out to God to protect him and be present in his heart.”

“There were many questions going through my mind,” she continued. “The kidnapping did not jut happen, it was clearly well planned. Why did they kidnap Fr Mick? He is not that young anymore and not in perfect health. He did not deserve it, rather he deserved to be respected and loved because he spent his life here in Mindanao sharing with us the Love that God has for us, especially the poor and vulnerable.”

the experience either during or after the captivity. When I got to the airport in Dublin, Ireland, members of the extended family met me and when we were discussing this subject, one of my nieces said, ‘there were people in Ireland praying for you who never prayed before.’ People of many different faiths contacted me to tell me how much they had been praying for me and, as one Protestant Pastor put it, ‘God even listens to Protestant prayers!’ I did deeply appreciate all who prayed for me but did not know how to thank them and adequately show my appreciation.

A HERO’S WELCOME Now, back home and already planning to return to his mission, Fr Mick was being hailed as a hero. “I did not feel like a hero at all and I still don’t,” he wrote. “That is the hardest part to understand because I did nothing heroic. I did not volunteer to be kidnapped but was taken by force, against my will, and I stayed in

Last year our collection in Southern Africa for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith realized $ 160 892-00. The Universal Fund will give us a further $ 1 902 000-00.

This is a difference of $1 741 108-00. These funds will be distributed as follows: $ 930 000-00 (Ordinary subsidies for bishops), $ 371 000-00 (the building of new churches, halls, presbyteries), $ 293 000-00 (catechetics), $ 232 000-00 (the renovation and or extension of church buildings), $ 31 000-00 (security fencing), $ 30 000-00 (vehicles), $ 15 000-00 (formation programmes, etc).

In his message for this year's World Mission Sunday, Pope Benedict tells us that “The love that we celebrate in the Sacrament is not something we can keep to ourselves. By its very nature it demands to be SHARED with everyone. What the world needs is God’s love; it needs to encounter Christ and to believe in him”. It is our task then as friends of Jesus to “make Jesus seen”, to make the face of the Redeemer shine out in every corner of the earth.

Fr. Mick tells us that “ Even the old, the sick and the suffering have an important part to play and, if they accept their crosses and offer them for the extension of God’s kingdom, they can obtain tremendous graces for missionaries working in the field. We are all in this task together and all have their own part to play, even the most lowly who think their lives are useless. All can be true missionaries.”

The Response There was anger and embarrassment among the whole community, Christian and Muslim alike, at what had happened. “At the height of my negative experience during this time,” wrote Corazon, “I also saw signs of the Good News in the community. Christian and Muslim came together in a special way united in prayer to God and Allah to express their sadness and concern for Fr. Mick. We continued to hope and pray that each day would be the last day of his ordeal and he would be freed.”

Fr. Mick’s plight was an international story and, during Mission Month and until his release, people gathered in solidarity. “I was amazed when I came out of captivity to learn of all the publicity my kidnapping had got and of the number of people who were praying for me, not only in Ireland but in other places around the world and this included people of all faiths,” wrote Fr Mick.

“I was truly humbled. The prayers were certainly effective as I had no ill effects from

captivity against my will because I was guarded by fully-armed people so I could do nothing about it. I just tried to cope with the situation as best as I could-like anyone else in the same position- and due to the prayers of so many people I was able to cope.”

“It seemed the natural thing to return to the Philippines and to Pagadian as I worked here most of my life,” he wrote. The welcome was assured. “ To have a missionary among us gives us the privilege of mutually sharing the love of God,” wrote Corazon Mendoza. “It gives us the courage and faith to value the gift of life. Having a missionary among us is also challenging. Can we also be missionaries to our own family and people because we received this gift from our baptism? Missionaries help us let the seed of faith in each one of us grow fully and bear the fruit of love. They help us to recognize the Spirit of God in us that will strengthen us as we go through the ups-and downs of our life-our journey.”

Let us then remember that through prayer and acts of sacrifice, by our words and actions, we become Missionaries for the Lord. May Jesus bless you and your generous offering abundantly.

Thank you for supporting the PMS! Rev. Msgr Gregory J van Dyk DONATIONS MAY BE DEPOSITED IN FAVOUR OF THE PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES ACCOUNT NUMBER: 40-4860-5313, ABSA BANK, BETHELEHEM BRANCH, BETHLEHEM 9700 NATIONAL OFFICE: P.O. BOX 2630, BETHELEHEM, 9700

MISSION

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

15

A taste of missionary life in Africa What brings a 20-year-old British student to the St Anne’s mission in Mpophomeni in the archdiocese of Durban?

DANIEL ETIENNE tells how seeking the face of Christ in Africa has helped him prepare to be a missionary back home.

F

OR three weeks in August I left the comfort of my summer holidays in Lancaster, England, and Jersey in the English Channel to set out on an adventure thousands of miles away.

The journey was not merely for a holiday, but for an extraordinary experience to share, as well as to build on and celebrate our common faith.

Back home I’m preparing for an important year ahead, entering the final year of my degree at Lancaster University, and after a long period of discernment this year, I seek selection in the hope of entering a seminary next September.

The opportunity to go to South Africa arose through the priest who accompanied me from England, Fr Robert Billing. I was

instantly enthused to go because I felt it would give me a renewed sense of what faith is and help in my personal growth and ongoing discernment and formation. I had a firm belief that a glimpse (even one so small) into the “traditional missions” would help me form ways in which to be a missionary at home, in a Church that faces so many challenges that, as Pope Benedict said, “must be missionary in order to survive” and thrive.

Over the three weeks, with our attentive guide Fr Jude Fernando TOR of Mpophomeni parish, we managed in the weekdays to travel around extensively, encountering many different religious communities. In this way, we shared in the vast network Fr Fernando has as part of his mission, witnessing the direction he gives to communities and individuals, and the return gift of constant prayers to support.

Fr Fernando’s mission in Mpophomeni is an extraordinary dialogue of faith that is totally lost in the Love of Christ. Here we were able to reflect on and prepare for the primary work we came for: to give workshops in the parish at the weekends.

These workshops provided a forum to share the experience of my faith, growing up in a secular world, and parishioners sharing

their lively faith. We also talked and discussed community-building and each one’s role in it, about the Mass and the four pillars of the faith. These workshops encompassed and involved all the groups in the parish together or in separate groups.

Our time in the parish, despite being short, provided a great insight into what there is to deal with in a mission parish—the joys and challenges. It was invaluable to experience a missionary priest’s life, its conditions and routine, by sharing it without any special treatment.

The short time I spent in South Africa provided so many experiences to take away basic conditions, long journeys in a vast land, meeting so many new people, colourful and lively liturgies.

There seemed to be a real readiness to offer the most the people could to God, and to uphold the functions and expressions of the Church because of its work for unity.

It was marvellous to share in a vibrant and vitally expressive

British student Daniel Etienne (back left) came to South Africa for first-hand experience in missionary work. Standing next to Mr Etienne is Fr Jude Fernando TOR who guided him through the missionary work done in the archdiocese of Durban.

Church and to realise that although English and South African Catholic life is outwardly

very different, we have much more in common as we seek the face of Christ.

Order of Friars Minor

“We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart and to bring home those who have lost their way” St Francis of Assisi

CONTACT Order of Friars Minor P.O. Box 914-1192 Wingate Park 0153 Pretoria Tel: 012 345 1172

Email: ofmvocations@rocketmail.com

16

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

MISSION

BENEDICTINE SISTERS OF ST ALBAN ORA

et

(prayer)

Community Prayer And spiritual Life According to the Rule of our Holy Father Benedict

LABORA (service) caring for: -children -old people -the poor -prisoners -teaching

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BENEDICTINE WAY OF LIFE Contact: or Little Flower Convent P/Bag 575 Eshowe 3815 Phone/ Fax: (035) 4741630

Benedictine Convent Box 2424 Elukwatini 1192 Phone/ Fax: (017) 883 2379 Cell: 083 883 2379

Fr Marcus Nowotny, rector of Mary Queen of the Apostles Seminary, stands in the institution’s courtyard in St Petersburg, Russia. He shows where the archbishop once resided in St Petersburg and the seminary’s few external Catholic symbols. Born in Germany, Fr Nowotny and other foreign administrators see seminaries such as these as essential to the development of Catholicism in Russia.

PHOTO: RUSSELL EVANS,CNS

Baby-steps for Russia’s Catholic Church Russia may be an ancient country, but in missionary terms, its Catholic Church is still a baby, as the rector of St Petersburg’s seminary tells RUSSELL EVANS.

J

UST off First Red Army Street in central St Petersburg, Russia, down the road from an ornate Russian Orthodox cathedral, it’s easy to miss a building that represents the future of Russian Catholicism.

Built in the late 19th century, four stories high and painted a yellowish gold, Mary Queen of the Apostles Seminary displays few signs of the Catholic faith flourishing inside. Instead there are signs of Catholicism’s centuries-long struggle in Russia.

Fr Markus Nowotny, the Germanborn rector of the seminary, points to the building’s lone external cross, which faces, oddly enough, away from the street.

“Up until 1905, conversion to any religion other than Eastern Orthodox was illegal,” he explained. “In addition, displaying Catholic symbols close to an Orthodox church was outlawed.”

When czarist Russia fell to the communists in 1917, Catholicism became almost non-existent.

“Visiting Catholics are surprised to learn about Catholicism in Russia,” said Fr Nowotny. He estimates that roughly 1% of St Petersburg’s 4,6 million population are Catholic.

The national percentage is much lower.

“I hear programmes on Catholic radio about ‘young’ Catholic countries in Africa and Asia,” he said. “If they are young, then Russia is a baby.”

Moscow’s recently appointed Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, an Italian, knows Catholicism’s difficult Russian history as well as anyone. In a February article in the Italian publication Vita e Pensiero, he lamented Catholicism’s difficult history in Russia.

“During the late 1930s, persecution led to almost complete destruction of the Catholic Church, at least in its formal structures,” he wrote. “In 1917, 2 million Catholics lived in Russia, with 900 priests and monks; by 1935 there were not more than a dozen.”

When Fr Nowotny first arrived in Russia in 1992, he met German Catholics who had witnessed priests preparing parishioners to carry on the Catholic tradition despite Soviet rules.

During the 1990s, small communities of Europeans from Germany, Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus immigrated to Russia and helped revive

the Catholic liturgy there.

With the great majority of Russians being Orthodox, Archbishop Pezzi said, “I believe the first challenge facing the Catholic Church in Russia today [is] not to succumb to the temptation to perceive themselves as an ‘ethnic’ church.”

He added: “Catholicism’s presence helps to understand that in reality doctrinal unity between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church already exists: what unites us is infinitely more than what divides us. This is true for the individual Christian and for the entire Church, as the unity of Christians is the greatest testimony to the truth of Christ.”

As a German, Fr Nowotny’s presence in the former Soviet Union represents one symptom of Catholicism’s current ethnic status: a shortage of Russian priests.

Only about 10% of the priests in Russia are Russian. The rest, like Fr Nowotny, hail from places such as Italy, Poland and Spain. This amalgam of different languages and liturgical styles can lead to culture clashes.

Recently, a group of Argentine missionaries prepared for Pentecost by blanketing their church in red: red on the walls, red curtains, red carpet. Little did they know that in Russia, Pentecost traditionally involves the colour green.

“The parishioners were quite frightened,” Fr Nowotny recalled.

“The colour red in Russia represents the Communist Party. They thought they had entered a Soviet rally.”

Russia faces a number of problems traditionally Catholic countries do not. One is Russia’s great size. Whereas a neighbouring parish in Italy or Spain may be as much as several dozen or so kilometres away, Russian parishes may be several hundred kilometres apart. Many parishes receive priests only once a month, some even less.

Fr Nowotny sees his seminary as a place to overcome many of these obstacles.

“Seminaries are places where theory becomes practice,” he said, beaming as he discussed one seminarian who has developed a way to send out Gospel texts through cellphone messages to reach widely dispersed Catholic communities.

Fr Nowotny also worries that the faith of Russian Catholics is limited now to the liturgical aspect.

“There are three pillars of Catholicism: liturgy, charity and witness,” he said. “Right now we only have liturgy in Russia.”

For him, Russian Catholicism’s goal is clear: “Catholicism must be brought into real life. It must become the groundwater for the Russian parishioners.”CNS

At Pentecost, scared

parishioners

CONGREGATION OF MARIANNHILL MISSIONARIES

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!”

To know more about us contact: Director of Vocations PO Box 11363, Mariannhill, 3601 or PO Box 85, Umtata, 5099

thought they

had entered a Soviet rally

on DStv audio channel 170 & streamed on www.radioveritas.co.za

FOCUS

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

17

Priest with Alzheimer’s unlocks mind with letters Fr Milton Hipsley, former pastor of St Mary Church , Baltimore, was diagnosed with Alzeimer’s disease in 2008. Forced to give up his cherished roles as pastor and chaplain, GEORGE MATYSEK shows us how he now uses letter-writing as a way to minister.

A

FTER 16 years of visiting prisoners and ministering to parishioners in Maryland’s Allegany County, Fr Milton Hipsley faces his own kind of confinement.

Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2008, the 72-year-old priest had to give up his cherished roles as pastor of St Mary in Cumberland and as a prison chaplain. He now lives at the Mercy Ridge Retirement Community in Timonium, wearing a special bracelet so that medical staff can locate him.

But he has found a new way to minister—a method suggested to him by Baltimore Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore. It’s a ministry of pen and paper.

Fr Hipsley’s letters to The Catholic Review, Baltimore’s archdiocesan newspaper, number more than 30, and are a sample of the hundreds he has written in the past two years.

Using black, blue and red pens, the priest tackles the importance of praying the rosary and contemplating nature. He extols the virtues of solitude, and urges prayer and kindness. Sometimes he asks for stamps, so that he can dispatch more letters.

Displaying his well-known humour, Fr Hipsley sometimes signs his letters as “bald-headed Fr Milton Hipsley” or jots down “alive and kicking”.

Fr Hipsley talked of his love for letter writing as he relaxed in a library near his room at Mercy Ridge. The stocky priest devotes much of his day to penning short missives, sending them to family, friends, former parishioners, newspaper reporters and strangers.

“It’s an expression of the you—of the self, so to speak,” he said. “When I reflect on my letters, they could get some insights.”

Ann Pugh, Fr Hipsley’s sister, sees the letters as a godsend.

“It’s his only salvation,” she said. “He feels like he’s helping other people. I tell him that the people at his parish haven’t forgotten him.”

Carolee Lucas, secretary of St Mary, said parishioners look forward to receiving their former pastor’s mail. He meant everything to their faith community, she said, and it has been difficult to see him leave.

“As soon as someone gets a letter, they share it with everyone,” said Ms Lucas. “He was the kind of priest who was always here for the people. His religious vocation was his whole life. He could not care less about the outside world.”

Joan Ruppenkamp, parish manager, said parishioners are heartened that Fr Hipsley still thinks of them.

“In his mind, we are still a part of his life,” she said. “He left a hole here when he left.”

Fr Hipsley earned a reputation as a champion of the underdog who held a special place in his heart for the incarcerated, Ms Ruppenkamp and Ms Lucas said.

Prisoners were grateful for his frequent visits, which included opportunities for confession. One prisoner confided that if there were ever a riot, he would throw himself on top of Fr Hipsley to protect him. Using threads from his prison uniform, another inmate crafted a cross for the priest as a gift.

Soon after Fr Hipsley retired from prison ministry and could no longer visit inmates, he stood outside the prison gates. Wearing a stole, he made the sign of the cross in the air and offered

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absolution to all of the men inside who were truly sorry for their sins but were unable to confess to a priest.

When he’s not writing letters, Fr Hipsley spends time in a garden praying the rosary. Most of his prayers are for others, but he acknowledged that he asks God for help with everyday things.

“I pray, ‘Dear God, please help me in this situation,’” he said. “Where did I put my wallet?”

The priest also prays that more of his fellow clergymen would visit.

“If I’m ever in touch with a priest, it’s usually a situation where there’s an event,” he lamented, “but not like a friend who will come by and spend time with you. If I get near a priest, if he’s free, I’ll lean right next to his shoulder and make a good confession.”

Asked what advice he would have for those confronting major challenges, Fr Hipsley said they should “concentrate on serious prayer”.

“If they are devout in their prayer,” he said, “then they have security in facing whatever their situation is that they are going to endure.”—CNS

Fr Milton Hipsley, who ministered in various parishes in Maryland’s Allegany County, was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease. After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, Fr Hipsley now exercises his ministry by writing letters.

PHOTO:OWEN

SWEENEY, CATHOLIC REVIEW/CNS

18

TRAVEL

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

Bridgette Goeiman of Alberton prays before a statue of the crucified Christ in the church on the Mount of Beatitudes, next to which the group stayed for two nights.

Patricia Woods of Graskop in Mpumalanga and Anne Mentoor of Cape Town carry the cross during the Stations of the Cross on Jerusalem’s Via Dolorosa.

Bishop Patrick Mvemve of Klerksdorp, the pilgrimage’s spiritual director, leads a reflection in the Coenacle, a Crusader structure built on the traditional site of the Last Supper on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion.

Bishop Mvemve preaches during a Mass at the church of All Nations at the Garden of Gethsemane. The rock below the altar is reputed to be that on which Our Lord prayed before his arrest.

Southern Cross Passion Pilgrimage In September a group of 45 pilgrims visited the Holy Land and Oberammergau in Germany, with a stop-over in Cairo, on The Southern Cross’ Passion Pilgrimage. GÜNTHER SIMMERMACHER took photos. His series on the pilgrimage will begin next week.

The lectionary lies open after Sunday Mass in Bavaria’s Wieskirche, which was celebrated in German with pilgrim groups from South Africa, the US and the Phillippines joining local parishioners.

Margaret and Francis Hlobo of Soweto on the Great Pyramid of Giza in Cairo, where the group also enjoyed a Nile cruise.

Bishop Mvemve and Wayne Lawrence of East London sample the healing mud of the Dead Sea. (Photo published at the suggestion of the bishop himself.)

Pilgrims from South Africa and Lviv in Ukraine get to know one another on Mount Tabor, site of Christ’s transfiguration.

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Günther Simmermacher, editor of The Southern Cross, in front a model of Jerusalem in Jesus’ time.

Bishop Mvemve, assisted

by Fr Joseph Janito MCCJ, celebrates an outdoor Mass at the Dalmanutha site in Tabgha on the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus fed the multitudes.

A shop in central Oberammergau, the small Bavarian town where the famous Passion Play is performed every ten years, with the house murals typical of the solidly Catholic region. Many of these paintings are of a religious nature.

FOCUS

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

19

A boost for the hometown of Mary Magdalene Jesus would have known the town of Magdala, home to his friend Mary. Yet, of all the holy sites in Galilee, it never features on pilgrimage itineraries.

That will change soon, thanks to a Catholic centre and a sensational archaeological find, as GÜNTHER SIMMERMACHER reports.

I

N the time of Jesus, the Galilean town of Magdala (now known as Migdal) was a thriving city of up to 40 000 people, which became wealthy from its export of salted fish and a fish sauce that was especially popular in Rome. It was the hometown of Mary Magdalene, a leader among the Nazarene’s disciples and the first witness to the risen Christ.

And yet, Magdala is one of the few sites of Jesus’ ministry that do not feature on the pilgrim’s trail.

This may change. Firstly, the Legionaries of Christ are building a state-of-the-art centre with a hotel providing accommodation for 300 pilgrim guests, in an area where few Catholic lodging places operate (another is the also recently-built Mount Beatitudes hotel, run by Italian Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary).

Among other attractions, the Magdala Centre will also include a multimedia centre presenting the life of Christ. As the famous line in the 1989 film Field Of Dreams has it: “Build it, and they will come”.

The complex also includes the ruins of a 1st-century synagogue which the Israeli Antiquities Authority believes to be the most significant find of its kind yet. The ruins, buried for almost two millennia beneath just 60cm of clay, were found during building works for the centre in 2009—just a few months

after Pope Benedict had blessed the foundation stone during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Archaeologists have determined that the synagogue was in use until 67/68AD, the period when the Romans crushed the Jewish rebellion in Galilee. It is one of only seven synagogues dating from the Second Temple Period that have been found worldwide, and the first in Galilee.

Of particular interest to Jewish historians is a relief in stone of a seven-branched menorah (or candelabrum). It is the oldest depiction in stone of a menorah, possibly a facsimile of one from the great temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD. The menorah serves as a potent symbol of Judaism and modern-day Israel.

“It is remarkable to watch how scholars and almost all Jewish people react” when they see the stone menorah, said Fr Eamon Kelly, a Legionary of Christ from County Clare, Ireland, who serves as vicechargé at the Pontifical Notre Dame Centre in Jerusalem, which is run by his congregation.

“The synagogue and menorah discovery has been a providential gift for the Magdala Centre,” Fr Kelly said. “We had planned an ecumenical chapel which was to be built at the exact location where we then discovered the synagogue.” The ecumenical centre will now be erected eight metres away from the synagogue, which itself will now represent a place of encounter for Christians and Jews.

“This synagogue reminds us of a time when not only were Jesus’ followers not divided, but we were not yet separated from the Jews,” Fr Kelly said. “Here our paths diverged. After 2 000 years we meet again.”

But the synagogue—excavated by a Jewish archaeologist assisted by a Christian and a Muslim—is important not only to Jews and

OLDE WORLD JEWELLERY cc

The ruins of a 1st-century synagogue at Magdala, in which Jesus might have taught, found during building works for a new Catholic centre in the hometown of Mary Magdalene. those engaged interreligious relations. It is perfectly conceivable that Jesus himself taught in it.

The New Testament repeatedly places Jesus inside synagogues, which some scholars say did not profuse in Galilee. Magdala’s size, importance and geographical position suggest that Jesus would have known the city well, perhaps in particular as his friend Mary’s hometown. Much of Jesus’ Galilean ministry—including the miracle of the multiplication and the Sermon on the Mount—is located in an 8km stretch between the local centres, Magdala and Capernaum (where Jesus was based and where the foundations of a 1st century synagogue can still be seen).

Fr Kelly said that he is often asked whether Jesus can be connected to the Magdala synagogue.

Some scholars speculate that it

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might even be Jairus’ synagogue (Lk 8:41), outside which the woman who touched Jesus’ garment was healed.

There is no proof of that, but “with even greater probability it can be asserted that people from this synagogue were witnesses to Jesus’ public ministry”, Fr Kelly said. He also said that after Pentecost the area might have been a centre of conversion to the new community of Jesus’ followers, which was still rooted in Judaism. Perhaps the Magdala synagogue was being used by these first Christians. This, Fr Kelly said, “might also explain its surprising level of decoration”.

When the find was announced in September 2009, Fr Juan Solana, director of the Notre Dame Centre, said that “in a moment of prayer in this place, I thought that the last time the faithful gathered in this

place…most of them had been witnesses of the life of our Lord”.

The Magdala Centre was scheduled to open in September 2011, but the synagogue find has pushed the inaugural date to July 2012.

The Legionaries of Christ believe more important finds may be hidden below the surface of their property. “We have a need for volunteers, also from Southern Africa, to dig at the very promising and ongoing scientific dig of a further 12 acres at the site,” Fr Kelly said.

More information can be found at magdalaisrael.wordpress.com.

Those interested may e-mail lead archaeologist Professor Marcela Zapata Meza, of the Universidad Anahuac del Sur, Mexico City, at marcela.zapata@anahuac.mx  For more information on the Magdala Centre, visit www.magdala center.com

20

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

LITERATURE

The poet’s quest to give beauty back to God Art and music are valuable tools of catechesis. ROLF HEMING explains why the poetry of the Jesuit priest Gerard Manley Hopkins also helps illuminate our faith.

S

OME years ago editions of The Sower, a catechetical quarterly based at the Maryvale Centre in Birmingham, England, began to publish material entitled “Learning Through Art”.

The series proved popular and helpful for teachers and catechists and no doubt others who have been able to use this resource in parishes.

Painting and iconography have traditionally been used over the centuries for Christian devotions both private and public. Such is the power of the icon in the Byzantine tradition, that the very act of painting (or “writing”) one itself becomes a prayerful and contemplative encounter.

The beauty of the visual arts is that they can have an almost immediate impact on the viewer.

Take for example Caravaggio and his dramatic Supper at Emmaus.

Here during the meal at the end of their journey, the eyes of the startled disciples are opened so that they are finally able to recognise the Risen Christ, “at the breaking of bread”.

However, it remains apparent that literature, as opposed to art and music, is used sparingly in the Church. Yet the Book of Genesis reminds us that God created the entire universe by means of the spoken word! What is more, Adam, made in God’s own image, was allotted an immense task requiring great verbal skills: to provide names for “all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild beasts”.

Still, with literature we do encounter certain difficulties.

Should we choose poetry, we may

discover a paucity of enthusiastic listeners, whereas, in this day and age, a classic novel might prove too lengthy a read for the average teenager.

Nonetheless, it is surely true that the beauty of language and the written word, like the beauty of creation itself can aid our efforts in the challenging task of passing on the faith.

St Paul, in his Letter to the Philippians counsels us to use it with liberty: “Everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour and everything that can be thought worthy of praise.”

There can be no doubt that the beauty of the psalms reflects the glory of God. If so, then most assuredly poetry and literature can also be a means of expressing wonder and awe when confronted by God’s tremendous gift of creation.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

O

All things counter, original spare strange; Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

Glory be to God for dappled things Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings

Besides this great love for God’s creation, we see in Hopkins a sincere love for all of humanity. Gifted with the three great theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, he succeeded in performing in an exemplary manner his pastoral duties as a Jesuit priest amid the appalling poverty of 19th century Liverpool.

Within the vicinity of his own parish he glimpsed the supreme beauty of man created in the image of God manifested in the eponymous blacksmith Felix Randal: “big-boned and hardy-handsome” toiling at “the random grim forge” where he “fettle[d] for the great grey dray horse his bright and battering sandal!”

This concluding line to the sextet, is in itself a vibrant and triumphant celebration of dominion, achievement, skill and know-how, a marvellous human response to God’s first gift of the earth to man.

Furthermore, this thought-pro-

ne poet who achieves this objective perhaps more than any other is Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-89), whose verse is an extravagant rhapsody to the presence of the divine discovered in the beauty of nature.

He delighted in the distinctive form of things the essential beauty in what he termed “inscape”. His thrillingly energised world was hard-wired, electrically “charged with the grandeur of God”: the sheer barbarous, brute beauty of it all! Its harmonies, textures, sounds, rhythms, individuality, irregularity, symmetry, order and unity: all of which fascinated him.

Hopkins truly was a visionary poet, able to perceive “the dearest freshness” the “deep down things” that we with our busy schedules so readily miss.

His psalm-like poem “Pied Beauty” is a joyful paean to creation:

voking ode to Felix Randal the farrier should provide great encouragement for both priests and Eucharistic ministers alike in their wonderful vocation to comfort the sick and housebound as they tender their “sweet reprieve and ransom”—the Blessed Sacrament.

Within the text of this truly catechetical poem, we see a vivid snapshot of the very real hope that we ourselves can receive from this ministry which communicates the mystery of God’s salvation coupled with love of neighbour through the sacramental life of the Church; and not least also, the effects of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick on Felix Randal himself: “Impatient he cursed at first, but mended/Being anointed and all.”

And indeed, our own particular relationship with those who are ill develops a closer bond, as we follow the missionary directive of Jesus himself, to love the poor and visit the sick: “This seeing the sick endears us to them, us too it endears.”

A further look at “Pied Beauty” provides a fine opportunity for us to take a look at the dignity of manual work. Perhaps during catechesis on the social teaching of the Church, one might draw on Pied Beauty to examine “all trades, their gear and tackle and trim”, an acknowledgement of man’s biblical mandate to take dominion over the visible world by means of the “gear tackle and trim” of his own particular craft or profession.

In Hopkins’ poem, we see the goodness of work, reflecting the action of God himself as Creator, whereby man is able to achieve fulfilment as a human being, even though “smeared with toil” within such confines as those of the “random grim forge” of Felix Randal.

I

t is through the inspirational medium of language and poetry that Hopkins gives glory to God, gracefully “giving beauty back, back to God, beauty’s self and beauty’s giver”, echoing the para-

bles of the Kingdom of God, where Jesus, himself refers constantly to the dignity of human labour, the work of the shepherd, fisherman, ploughman, soldier, scholar, sower and harvester.

In many ways Hopkins was a poet ahead of his time, a prescient voice all those years ago, warning of the dangers of deforestation, mindful of the importance of the biblical imperative given to man

by God with regard to the stewardship of the earth. The poem of lament, entitled “Binsey Poplars”, is testimony to his awareness of good husbandry, coupled with care for the environment: O if we but knew what we do When we delve or hew, Hack and rack the growing green.

Nowhere is the sublime beauty of creation more apparent to Hopkins than in the “Highlands of Scotland”. It is the unspoilt beauty of Loch Lomond and the Trussock region that inspire in Hopkins a yearning for the conservation of the natural world. There in the wilds, among the “flitches of fern” where “the beadbonny ash sits over the burn”, is the poet’s heaven haven. The final stanza of his work entitled Inversnaid is a fulsome plea for its unconditional retention: What would the world be, once bereft Of wet and of wilderness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wilderness and wet; Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

For all those involved in the work of passing on the Deposit of Faith handed down to us: a cri de coeur, from our priest-poet, a prayer for God’s grace, without which we achieve nothing. It is to be found in the last line of sonnet 51: “Mine O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.”

COMMUNICATION

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

21

Media: Printed press still necessary CINDY WOODEN reports on a congress held by the Ponifical Council for Social Communications to which journalists and experts from 85 countries were invited to discuss the present and future role and challenges facing Catholic journalism.

T

HE Catholic Church obviously believes it has an important message to share with the world. And with rela- Pope Benedict arrives for an audience with Catholic journalists and comtively easy access to the printing munications professionals from around the world at the Vatican The audipress, the airwaves and the Inter- ence capped the Catholic Press Congress at the Vatican. net, it would seem that commuPHOTO: L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO, CNS nicating the Gospel would be easier than ever today. dishes and satellites”, the printed lives.

In North America and Europe, word is still essential for commuThe job of a journalist, he especially, the Church has relied nication, especially for a Church said, is to channel the flow of for decades on the Catholic press community that draws its inspi- information in a way that helps to provide the faithful with news, ration from Scripture. people make sense of it. And the information and the perspective “The search for truth must be job of a Catholic journalist is to they need to understand the pursued by Catholic journalists help readers evaluate events in church’s position on a variety of with passionate minds and light of Church teaching. current political, social and ethi- hearts, but also with the profesOrganising the congress, the cal issues. sionalism of competent workers pontifical council tried someChurch officials recognise that with sufficient and effective thing a bit novel for a Vatican even as opportunities to commu- instruments,” he said. meeting: They filled the speakers’ nicate expand, its message is Pope Benedict said that while slots mostly with people who often muffled. new media can help spread infor- actually work in the media.

Pope Benedict, meeting mation, often it is focused on The few bishops and Vatican Catholic journalists and commu- attention-grabbing images and officials who did speak at the nications professionals in Rome makes little or no attempt to help conference work with the media this month, said that despite the people understand what is hap- on a regular basis.

Archbishop Claudio Maria “multiplication of antennas, pening or what it means for their

Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, gives the opening talk at the Catholic Press Congress at the Vatican

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, discussed lessons learned from the clerical sex abuse scandal PHOTO: PAUL HARING/CNS

PHOTO: PAUL HARING/ CNS

Celli, president of the council, said the Catholic press faces the same challenges of falling subscriptions, plummeting advertising revenues and competition from Internet sites that most newspapers are facing. But it also faces challenges tied directly to the identity and mission of the Catholic press itself.

The participating journalists echoed the call for the Catholic press to see its role as service to the Church and to the truth, but they also insisted that they can not do their jobs without honesty and transparency on the part of Church leaders.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told the congress that communication can be effective only if the messenger—whether an individual or an institution—is credible, and as the fallout of the clerical sex abuse scandal has shown, the only way to be credible is to be transparent.

Fr Lombardi, addressing the role of media in the clerical abuse scandal said: “The clerical sex abuse crisis was a serious proving ground for the Catholic Church and its commitment to be open and honest with the world about the failures of its members.

“There was a great loss of trust in the Church—partially justified, partially caused by a negative and incomplete presentation of the problem—but this damage, as the pope has said, can be overcome with good if we move in the direction of a profound purification and renewal so that no one is ever again abused by a

Michael Pruller, deputy director of the Austrian daily newspaper Die Presse, holds up a Blackberry as he talks about ways readers get news during the Catholic Press Congress.

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PHOTO: PAUL HARING/ CNS

priest or Church worker.

“The only way to promote Church unity in the midst of controversies and protect the freedom of expression and truth in the Church is to be credible and transparent,” he said.

Fr Lombardi said the Church also must learn to be as open and transparent in answering questions about its finances—an obvious reference to the latest Vatican Bank inquest.

Catholic journalists, mostly laypeople, also tried to drive home to the Church officials a need to recognise how communications works in the Internet age.

The World Wide Web is not simply an electronic slate where a newspaper can be posted instead of being printed.

The Internet, and especially blogs and social media such as Facebook, have created a new style of communications that is interactive, something most institutional Church efforts—from homilies to the Vatican website— have never encouraged.

Catholic bloggers, newspaper editors and website operators at the conference said people today—especially those under 35 —expect to be able to pose questions, replies and comments. The Catholic Church clearly wants to draw people into parish life and encourage them to share their faith with others, but opening even a tiny comment box on an “official” Church website is still seen as too risky.

It is not that caution and control are not smart, several participants said.

Anna Arco, a blogger and editor at the Catholic Herald in England, described the Catholic blogosphere as “lively, loud and argumentative”. She said some Catholic blogs have been ignorant, hurtful and aggressive, but generally when the bloggers are taken seriously as communicators who have something to say in the Church, they tend to grow more responsible in what they publish and in the tone they use.

“People have turned to blogs because they have not been heard, because their concerns are not being listened to or even taken seriously,” she said.

Jesus Colina, director of Zenit news service, said the “original sin” of Catholic communications efforts is that they are designed to speak to the faithful, but not to listen to them.

In addition, he said, while the Church claims a unique expertise in creating community, Catholic media tend to give voice only to the bishop and a few priests.

Fr Lombardi said the almost infinite number of “Catholic” voices in the media today means Church officials and Catholic communicators must strengthen their conviction that “for us communications is and must be to promote communion, dialogue and mutual understanding”.

Real Catholic communicators do not speak to affirm themselves, “but to meet, listen to and understand others”, discovering the best way to share with them the Gospel message and the hope it holds for their lives, Fr Lombardi said.—CNS

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The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

COMMUNITY Theology of the Body's young adult team leaders attended a twohour inspirational talk with the theme “How to live, teach and talk theology of the body” by Damon Clarke Owens of “Joy Filled Marriage” in New Jersey.

Grade 3 learners from St Conrad’s College in Klerksdorp visited the Atameleng street shelter as part of the college’s outreach programme.

SUBMITTED BY ANNE WALKER

SUBMITTED BY MARIE-ANNE TEBRAKE

Sacred Heart parish in King William’s Town held a Rosarymaking workshop for confirmation candidates. Pictured are Marcelle September, Howard Mopp jnr and Daisy Kingston.

SUBMITTED BY TERRY KINGSTON

Priests and other religious from several African countries descended on the diocese of Dundee for a special prayer and church service to pray for vocations. Locals were also given personal accounts from religious about their experience.

Sr Charity Dlamini from the Dominican Sisters of Newcastle greets one of the locals. See page 3.

SUBMITTED BY ROCCO MARRA

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

Founder, St Eugene de Mazenod

“Come and learn who you are in the eyes of God.”

Since it’s launch in 2007, the Cape Town School of Evangelisation has presented several courses in the archdiocese of Cape Town. Pictured are graduates from the most recently held course. The graduates received their certificates during a ceremony at Our Lady of Peace in Grassy Park, Cape Town.

SUBMITTED BY BARBARA RAMSDEN

Oblates choose to live in community, sharing their life in faith and prayer, working in solidarity with those who are poor, excluded or searching for meaning.

Like Eugene, every Oblate desires to lead people to recognise their human dignity and come to know the life that is offered in Jesus Christ, life to the full, free of injustice, alienation, and lack of opportunity.

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Northern Province of South Africa PO Box 44029 Linden 2104 GAUTENG

Monica and Henry Damons from George celebrate their 50th anniversary. The couple married at St Mary’s church in 1960.

SUBMITTED BY HENRY HUMAN

The Southern Cross, October 20 to October 26, 2010

Fr Roland Pasensie

F

ATHER Roland Pasensie, head of the Kolping Society in South Africa, died on September 29 at the age of 47.

Born in Cape Town on June 16, 1963, Fr Pasensie entered the Norbertine priory where he took orders. He was sent to Brooklyn in 1998, going on to Hout Bay and later Woodstock, and later still to Bellville.

“He excelled not only in preaching and administering the sacraments, but also in his great joy… counselling. His devotion, his brilliance, his understanding and his very own pain, helped him to help others,” Fr Stan Botha of Milnerton/Brooklyn said in the homily at Fr Pasensie’s funeral.

Fr Pasensie joined the Kolping Society in September 1999 as national praeses. From then Fr Pasensie’s perceptive insight, his far-seeing vision, his ability to find solutions and his amazing people skills transformed the society into a dynamic training

and people development institution, known and respected throughout the whole of the Kolping world, said the Kolping Society in a tribute to Fr Pasensie.

Fr Roland was invited to present the work being done in South Africa at all the international Kolping conferences and many of the countries introduced the South African model for training and development programmes into their own programmes.

Fr Roland’s expertise was soon recognised by the International Kolping Society in Germany and he was elected to the praesidium of the International Kolping Society in April 2002—the first non-German ever to serve on the praesidium.

Soon after he was also elected as the Continental Praeses for the eight African countries making up the Africa Kolping Association. On several occasions the International Society asked Fr

COMMUNIT Y CALENDAR BETHLEHEM:  Shrine of Our Lady of Bethlehem at Tsheseng, Maluti mountains; Thursdays 09:30, Mass, then exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.  058 721 0532 CAPE TOWN:  Holy Redeemer, Bergvliet, Padre Pio Prayer group, November 21 15:30.  Adoration Chapel, Corpus Christi Church, Wynberg: MonThurs 6am to 12pm; Fri-Sun 6am to 8pm. Adorers welcome  021-761 3337  Good Shepherd, Bothasig. Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in our chapel. All hours. All welcome.

JOHANNESBURG:  First Friday Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament 10:30. First Saturday: Devotions: Our Lady’s Cenacle, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Rosary, 15:00–16:00. Special devotion to Our Blessed Lady for her priests. Our Lady of the Angels, Little Eden, Edenvale,  011 609 7246  First Saturday of each month rosary prayed 10:30-12:00 outside Marie Stopes abortion clinic, Peter Place, Bryanston.  Joan Beyrooti, 011 782 4331  Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament: first Friday of the month at 09:20 followed by Holy Mass at 10:30. Holy Hour: first Saturday of each month at 15:00. At Our Lady of the Angels, Little Eden, Edenvale. Tel: 011 609 7246.

KIMBERLEY:  St Boniface High School celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2011. The St Boniface Past Student’s Union is currently preparing to celebrate this event. Past students are requested to contact the Union’s PRO and chairman of the board of governors, Mr Mosalashuping Morundi  073 768 3653 or at sbonifa@iafrica.com for further information.

PRETORIA:  First Saturday: Devotion to Divine Mercy. St Martin de Porres, Sunnyside, 16:30.  Shirley-Anne 012 361 4545 To place your event, call Claire Allen on 021 465 5007, or e-mail c.allen@scross.co.za

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DEATH Roland to travel to problem areas in Africa to act as mediator, conflict manager and peacemaker, a task he excelled at.

He became known by many famous national and world leaders. He also became a man of great stature and a great presence especially with his signature hat and stick.

Possessed of a keen mind, Fr Pasensie spoke numerous languages and read profusely in them all. He left behind worn out breviaries, and much used scriptural books, Fr Botha said.

Mass readings for the week Sundays year C, weekdays cycle 2

Sun October 17, 29th Sunday of the Year: Ex 17:8-13; Ps 121:1-8; 2 Tm 3:14-4,2 ; Lk 18:1-8 Mon October 18, St Luke: 2 Tm 4:10-17; Ps 145:10-13,17-18; Lk 10:1-9 Tue October 19, Ss John de Brébeuf & Isaac Jogues.

St Paul of the Cross: Eph 2:12-22; Ps 85:9-14; Lk 12:35-38 Wed October 20, Bl Daudi Okelo & Jildo Irwa: Eph 5:18-25; Ps Is 12:2-6; Lk 12:39-48 Thur October 21, feria: Eph 3:14-21; Ps 33:1-2, 4-5,11-12,18-19; Lk 12:49-53 Fri October 22, feria: Eph 4:1-6; Ps 24:1-6,; Lk 12:54-59 Sat October 23, St John Of Capistrano: Eph 4:7-16; Ps 122:1-5; Lk 13:1-9 Sun October 24, 30th Sunday of the Year: Sir 35:12-14,16-18; Ps 34:2-3,17-19,23; 2 Tm 4:6-8,1618 ; Lk 18:9-14

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

OCTOBER: ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE October 24 30th Sunday of the Year C. The Lord, the righteous judge, is one who favours the humble. Everyone has a mission and goals in the game of life. These are not just individual goals but should be communal goals too, remembering the slogan “all for one and one for all”. Such an attitude can begin in families and then be passed on to the bigger community.

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IN MEMORIAM ATSMA—Harry. Passed away 40 years ago.

Always remembered, loved and missed by Juliana and Mark.

ATSMA—Hedwig. Our dear mother and grandmother left us on October 16, 2002 to enjoy eternal reward. She will always be remembered and loved by us. From Juliana, Mark and family.

DIAB—Pearl. In memory of my dear wife who went to her glory on October 20, 1985. Still remembered everyday. I pray that I may join you when the time comes that I leave this earthly life.

May you rest in peace, your loving husband, Ben. VERGOTTINI—Laura. In loving memory of our dearest mommy and granny, who passed away October 24, 2005.

Thank you for being a role model. We store the image of your cherishing like a precious photo in the album of our hearts.

In memory, you comfort and hold us near. You gave without thought of anything in return. We miss you our dearly beloved. Rest in heavenly peace until we meet again. Wendy, Walter, Anthony, Alfred and grandchildren YAZBEK—Joe. Our beloved father and grandfather enjoys eternal rest having left us in body but never in soul and spirit on October 25, 1992. He will always be remembered by Mark, Juliana and family.

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PETERS—Agnes Magdalene. Passed away September 20, 2010.

(Elsies River) Will always be remembered by her family, friends and the Legion of Mary, especially Mary da Silva. Rest in peace.

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CRUCIFIXES for Africa made in three complete sizes. Phone/Fax for details 046 604 0401.

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

Amen. Eileen.

HOLY St Jude, Apostle and Martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor for all who invoke your

special patron in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petition. In return I promise to make your name known in publication of this prayer that never fails. Amen. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be forever Blessed and Gloried, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and grant me my request (name your request). Say this prayer for 9 consecutive days and on the ninth day your request should be granted. Farrel.

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Enjoy breakfast at different restaurants every day (included in tariff). Holy Mass Saturdays/Sundays within walking distance. Tel/Fax 021 788 2031, 082 573 1251. grizell@iafrica.com CAPE TOWN: Ambler’s Rest—holiday or business accommodation in the heart of the Constantia winelands. Fully equipped self-catering open plan unit with secure parking (sleeps 2). R250pp per night sharing. Contact Barbara 021 712 6177 or 082 407 0856 www.capes tay.co.za/amblersrest CAPE TOWN: Vi Holiday Villa. Fully equipped selfcatering, two bedroom family apartment (sleeps 4) in Strandfontein, with parking, at R400 per night.

Contact Paul tel/fax +27 21 393 2503, cell 083 553 9856, e-mail: vivilla@telkomsa.net CAPE WEST COAST Yzerfontein: Emmaus on Sea B&B and self-catering. Holy Mass celebrated every Sunday at 6pm. Tel: 022 451 2650.

FISH HOEK: Self-catering accommodation, sleeps 4.

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Tel/fax:021 782 3647, 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 KNYSNA: Self-catering garden apartment for two in Old Belvidere with wonderful lagoon views. Tel: 044 387 1052.

KOLBE HOUSE is the Catholic Centre and residence for the University of Cape Town. Beautiful estate in Rondebosch near the university. From mid November, December and January, the students’ rooms are available for holiday guests. We offer self-catering accommodation, parking in secure premises. Short walks to shops, transport etc. Contact Jock 021 685 7370, fax 021 686 2342 or 082 308 0080 or kolbe.house@telkomsa.net MARIANELLA Guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of God with us.” Fully equipped with amazing sea views.

Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy. Tel: Malcolm Salida 082 784 5675 or mjsalida@mweb.co.za SEA POINT: Double room, own bathroom in heart of this prestigious suburb, near all amenities. Tel: 082 660 1200.

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

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PO Box 2372, CAPE TOWN, 8000 Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850

www.scross.co.za Editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za)

Advisory Editor: Michael Shackleton Editorial staff: Claire Mathieson (c.mathieson@scross.co.za)

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Accounts: Desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za) Published independently by the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Company Ltd, Cape Town Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect those of the editor, staff or directors of The Southern Cross.

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Published by the proprietors, The Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Co Ltd, at the company’s registered office, 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town, 8001.

Pregnant?

October 20 to October 26, 2010

Help is as near as your telephone

SOUTHERN AFRICA’S NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY SINCE 1920

011 403 1718 031 201 5471 www.birthright.co.za

Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000  10 Tuin Plein, Gardens, Cape Town, 8001 Tel: (021) 465 5007  Fax: (021) 465 3850 Editorial: editor@scross.co.za  Advertising/Subscriptions/Accounts: admin@scross.co.za 31st Sunday – Year C (October 31st) Readings: Wisdom 11:22 - 12:2 Psalm 145: 1-2, 8-11, 13-14 2 Thessalonians 1:11-22, Luke 19:1-10

W

E find it painfully difficult to believe; but God has the most terrible friends. Now we should be encouraged by this, because it means that God looks lovingly even on us; but deep down each of us wants to deserve God’s love, and think that he cannot love us unless we can present an unflawed appearance to him. If that is how you are thinking at the moment, look carefully at the readings for next Sunday.

The first reading imagines God looking at creation, “like a grain of dust...and like a morning drop of dew”. And God gazes with love, it seems: “You overlook the sins of humanity, so that they may repent. For you love everything that is, and you do not loathe any of the things that you made!” Is this really the God you believe in? But the Book of Wisdom calls God “Lover of souls—your imperishable spirit is in everything”.

We have to learn to take seriously the doctrine of Creation, and still more of Incarnation. God loves the whole of his creation, including us.

That is something that the psalmist knows well, ebulliently proclaiming that “I shall

God has the most terrible friends Fr Nicholas King SJ

Scriptural Reflections bless your name for ever and a day”. And why? Because “the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and great in mercy”.

We have proclaimed it often enough, God knows; but do we really believe that “the Lord is good to all and is merciful to all that God has made”? If we did, we should act as the psalmist suggests, “all that you have made will thank you, O Lord”. And you do not have to be on top of things, for “the Lord supports all those who fall, and lifts up all those who are bowed down”.

The second reading for next Sunday is not precisely on this point; but notice that Paul is emphatic about praying for the Thessalonians “all the time on your behalf, in order that our God may regard you as worthy of the calling...that the name of Our Lord Jesus may be

made glorious among you”. Then, just in case this encourages them to get too much above themselves, they are warned not to start thinking that Jesus’ Second Coming has already taken place. They (and we) still have a lot to learn.

In the gospel for next Sunday we meet a tax-collector. That is a bad start, because everyone knows how wicked and irreligious they were; but there is more to come, for Zacchaeus is actually a chief tax-collector, and, worse still, he is “rich”, which in Luke’s gospel is always a negative quality.

However the evangelist engages our sympathy for Zacchaeus (and some of the more erudite of Luke’s audience may have remembered that his name means, significantly, “The Lord has remembered”). Luke engages our sympathy by letting us hear what is going on inside the tax-collector (“he was desperately trying to see Jesus”), and telling us that he is what nowadays we call “vertically challenged”; and so he could not see Jesus, because of the crowd.

So we watch in astonishment as this very unlikely person sprinted ahead and “went up into a sycamore tree in order to see him”.

A missionary position I

T is, I am told, like Dante’s inferno meets the Fall of the Roman Empire. It takes place every year in South Africa and it is commonly known as a “Sexpo”—an exhibition of everything related to sex, sexual deviance and a showcase for the multi-billion dollar global “sex-toy” industry.

In past years, religious groups have written lengthy letters to newspapers decrying this commercial enterprise based so shamelessly on sex. These and other complaints have been ignored, mainly because we live in a modern democracy that espouses commercial freedom.

A record 50 000 people attended the exphibition in Johannesburg a few weeks ago, which I suppose is encouraging in a way, because that represents a mere 0,1% of the population.

However, the reason for my bringing this dubious exhibition to the attention to readers of The Southern Cross is because, this year, instead of writing letters to editors, some extremely brave Christians decided to take the bull by the horns and try some direct “conversion tactics” which seemed to have a quite positive effect.

According to a report in The Times newspaper, three churches decided that “if you can’t beat ‘em, then join ‘em”.

The newspaper reported that “despite opposing the event’s warehouse of pornography, peddled by international porn stars, the churches hired stands to promote healthy sex “within marriage” at the Sexpo.

“The clerics were among “non-sex industry” organisations, from cancer and rhino protection charities to cosmetics

Donations and volunteers and prayers always welcome

Chris Moerdyk

The Last Word companies, drawn by the event.

Elaine Crew, Gallagher Convention Centre exhibition manager, told The Times that the projected 52 000 visitors for the four days meant the “adult sexuality, health and lifestyle” show, was probably one of South Africa’s “top three” consumer events.

Following last year’s protest by the Christian Action Network, which alleged immorality and exploitation at the event, Ms Crew said no complaints were received this time round.

Bruce MacKenzie, a senior member of the God First Church, told The Times, that “a lot of stuff is overboard here”, but there was also much to promote a healthy sex life “within the confines of marriage”.

“We’re here to stand for what we’re for, not what we’re against. We will speak about God’s message to those who ask,” Mr MacKenzie said.

Down the aisle, moving past stalls selling Afrikaans porn films and sex toys, the Hatfield Christian Church North offered counselling, books on marriage and a “sexual wholeness” manual.

They told The Times that they “offer hope to those struggling with sexual sins and problems”, saying making love in

CONRAD

“IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR GENUINE PAGANS, THEY ARE IN EUROPE.”

marriage can “decrease feelings of depression; relieve chronic pain for hours; and strengthen the immune system”.

A few visitors and exhibitors grumbled that this year’s event was “maybe too tame”. This year, Sexpo had virtually no images of sex or nudity in main exhibition areas.

Activists at the “naturist” stand were banned from wandering in aisles without clothes. Naturist Carrington Laughton said he and his three colleagues needed “special permission” to be naked in their stall.

According to The Times report, “now and then exhibitors broke rules with stunts, such as the female cast of a local porn film stripping and cavorting on a sofa at the main entrance”.

Felicity Matladi, 21 and friend Khozi Sibeko, 29, both metallurgists, were among women taking pole-dancing lessons from an instructor in a shirt with the words “Jesus loves pole dancers”. Difficult to judge whether that was pure blasphemy or cunning evangelisation. I suppose that question can only be answered by the person concerned.

Merchandiser Bronwyn de Beer felt “okay” going topless in public as body art was applied.

Beauty Ramela, selling a book on female sexuality, The Cookie Book, said more Africans were breaking with their cultural restraints to embrace the event.

New Miss Nude South Africa, Nydene Human, 23, said she was delighted with her stall adjacent to that of the Rev Daniel Brits of the African Church of Truth.

Whether or not this year’s event was “toned down” because so many churches, animal anti-cruelty organisations and charities were participating is not entirely clear.

But most certainly, it is an extremely clever strategy by those church people who paid good money to hire exhibition space and braved what must have been an extremely intimidating and unnatural environment.

There is no doubt that this strategy has had a far greater impact than merely complaining to people who don’t listen.

It is going to be fascinating to see whether more charities, churches and social welfare organisations will buy exhibition space next year. I think they might really be on to something.

After all, Christ himself showed us that the best way to talk to sinners is to walk among the sinners themselves.

A challenge perhaps, for our brave Knight of Da Gama?

Then we cringe with Zacchaeus, as Jesus looks up and spots him and shouts his name, doubtless in order to abuse him for being so corrupt and irreligious.

But what does Zacchaeus hear instead?

“Down you get, quickly; because I have to stay in your house today.” And Zacchaeus, we learn, did just that, and “gave him joyful hospitality”. Now joy, in Luke’s gospel, is always a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit, which is not at all what you were expecting.

Nor were the onlookers, because they complain at Jesus’ terrible choice of friends: “a sinner!”.

Zacchaeus, however, is not one whit abashed, and announces what he is doing: “I am giving half of my possessions to the destitute, Lord; and if I have extorted from anybody” (which he undoubtedly had), “I am returning four times the amount”. Listen now to Jesus’ verdict: “Today salvation has come to this house—because he is also a son of Abraham”.

Are you one of Jesus’ terrible friends?

Remember that “the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost”.

Southern Crossword #415

ACROSS 5. It will hold the prisoner (4) 7. Holy Father's runaround (10) 8. Himalayan dweller (4) 10. Piper Fry wears tawdry dress (8) 11. He sticks to traditional doctrine (6) 12. Lack of interest in the faith (6) 14. There, T will restrain you (6) 16. This sailor causes bad sin (6) 17. Holder of the Eucharist (8) 19. Kind of water not found in the font (4) 21. Not satisfying conditions to vote (10) 22. Uninteresting musical note (4)

DOWN 1. Like a lively old person (4) 2. Like a demon (8) 3. Achitectural feature, if soft (6) 4. Graduate leaves basilica for sandstone (6) 5. Kind of contemplation that's fathomless?

(4) 6. The faithful's cemetery (10) 9. Kind of movement towards unity (10) 13. Coasting around one who does not know (8) 15. Lifts for the earners (6) 16. Highest point (6) 18. Short notice of death (4) 20. Region of Caesarean section (4)

SOLUTIONS TO #414. ACROSS: 1 Pope, 3 Anointed, 9 Impetus, 10 Thick, 11 Religionless, 13 Sesame, 15 Season, 17 In one's stride, 20 Sling, 21 Abalone, 22 Regarded, 23 Debt. DOWN: 1 Prioress, 2 Papal, 4 Nestor, 5 Intellectual, 6 Thirsts, 7 Dyke, 8 Stage manager, 12 Indecent, 14 Sinking, 16 Escape, 18 In one, 19 User.

CHURCH CHUCKLE Four things even God doesn’t know: 1 How much money a Benedictine has 2 What a Jesuit is thinking 3 What a Dominican is going to say next 4 How many orders of nuns exist in France Send us your favourite Catholic joke, preferably clean and brief, to The Southern Cross, Church Chuckle, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.