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December 8 to December 14, 2010
R5,50 (incl vaT Rsa) Reg no. 1920/002058/06
Filling buckets with love
Meet the Parish of the Month
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no 4705
Why was Jesus born in Bethlehem? Page 10
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US president’s fund now in African hands By BRonwen Dachs
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MULTI-BILLION dollar programme funded by the US government to fight Aids and HIV is being handed over to African agencies to administer—and at least one nun hopes treatment efforts will not be harmed by the move. As administrators of the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, known as PEPFAR, in South Africa are celebrating a successful transfer of administration in 2009, concerns are being raised in Nigeria that the handover planned for March could pose serious problems for patients and other programme participants. The two countries are getting much of the attention because more than a third of the estimated 22 million HIV/Aids cases in subSaharan Africa are in South Africa and Nigeria. UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids, estimated that in 2009, about 5,6 million South Africans and 2,6 million Nigerians had HIV or Aids. Our Lady of Fatima Sister Mary Bulus, health services coordinator in Nigeria’s Lafia diocese, expressed concern that the organisations named by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to take over the programme currently “don’t have the capacity to take on this enormous task”. Among the organisations named by CRS to run the programmes is the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, the administrative office of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria. “I have worked with [the secretariat] and know their weaknesses,” Sr Bulus said in a telephone interview from Akwanga, adding that it is likely that “a priest who is not a doctor or a manager” will be put in charge. “Project management is very different from pastoral care,” she said. She would like to “see serious recruitment of professionals for this work”. Funded since 2004 under PEPFAR, many of the programmes throughout Africa have been administered by CRS and have encompassed treatment for people with HIV and Aids as well as support programmes for family members and children orphaned by the disease. PEPFAR funds support numerous services such as providing free antiretroviral medicines for eligible patients, support for families devastated by Aids, after-school programmes for children whose parents died from the dis-
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ease and their caregivers, transportation for health services and counselling. CRS’s administration of Aids-related programmes across Africa has been held up as a model because of its focus on meeting local needs. However, PEPFAR guidelines require that all funded programmes be run by local organisations by 2012. “CRS’s intention has always been to hand over” to local ownership, said Karen Moul, communications officer for CRS. “[This is] not a dumping and getting out. We have known for a long time that this has to happen by 2012 and we have been gradually working toward it,” she said. Under the transfer arrangements, CRS remains available to offer local organisations assistance and advice. The PEPFAR funds on which these programmes rely are unlikely to expire “anytime soon”, Ms Moul said, noting that in 2008 the US Congress reauthorised the programme with up to $48 billion in funds through 2013. In South Africa, where the transfer of PEPFAR-funded programmes to local partners took place in 2009, the hand-over went smoothly, said Dominican Sister Alison Munro, director of the AIDS Office of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC). Recipients of the Church’s HIV services “wouldn’t have noticed there’s been any change in ownership”, Sr Munro said. The bishops’ conference and St Mary’s Hospital in Mariannhill, KwaZulu-Natal, now receive the US grants directly. The SACBC runs 33 after-school programmes for orphans in South Africa. The programmes provide for the general care of the youngsters, including meals, school fees and transportation to a doctor for treatment of illnesses. Sr Munro said most of the children live with a surviving, though often HIV-positive, parent, foster parents or relatives or in child-headed homes. “Orphanages are unsustainable financially, and we think it’s healthiest for children to live in normal circumstances in their communities as far as possible,” she said. The conference also operates 14 primary Aids treatment sites around the country, with outreach centers in remote areas, many of which are at local parishes.—CNS
The children of Leratong Pre-primary school in Bethlehem, Free state, performed the school’s annual nativity Play at Khotsong church. Lerato Mokoena and Tshepiso hlongoane played Mary and Joseph (left), while Themba Mphuthi was one of the shepherds. (Photo from Rosemary orpen)
Pope: Catholic newspapers are ‘irreplacable’ By John Thavis
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OPE Benedict has said the Catholic press has an irreplaceable role in forming Christian consciences and reflecting the Church’s viewpoint on contemporary issues. Despite the crisis in print media today, the Catholic newspaper still has a vital role to play in diocesan communications, the pope told members of the Italian Federation of Italian Weeklies, which represents 188 Catholic newspapers in the country. The pope said that while secular media often reflect a sceptical and relativistic attitude towards truth, the Church knows that people need the full truth brought by Christ. “The mission of the Church consists in creating the conditions so that this meeting with Christ can be realised. Cooperating in this task, the communications media are called to serve the truth with courage, to help public opinion see and read reality from an evangelical viewpoint,” he said.
A primary task of the Catholic newspaper, he said, is to “give voice to a point of view that reflects Catholic thinking on all ethical and social questions”. The pope said the printed newspaper, because of its simplicity and widespread distribution, remains an effective way of spreading news about local diocesan events and developments, including charity initiatives. As “newspapers of the people”, he said, Catholic papers can also favour real dialogue between different social sectors and debate among people of different opinions. “By doing this, Catholic newspapers not only fulfil the important task of providing information, but also perform an irreplaceable formative function” in the education of “critical and Christian consciences”, he said. The pope said Catholic journalists should give witness to their faith in their work. Their success as Catholic communicators will depend above all on their personal relationship with Christ, he said.— CNS
Pope Benedict says no to nukes By John Thavis
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OPE Benedict has said that nuclear weapons remain a threat to humanity, and he urged steps to curb their proliferation. Addressing Japan’s new ambassador to the Vatican, the pope recalled that this year marks the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
He said the “horror” of the bombings becomes more poignant every year. “This tragedy strongly reminds us how necessary it is to persevere in the efforts toward non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and toward disarmament,” he said. “Nuclear weapons remain a source of great worry. Their possession and the risk of their
eventual use generate tension and mistrust in numerous regions of the world.” He said the experience in Japan should remind the world of the need to find political solutions to international problems, and of the need to halt the spread of nuclear weapons. That’s something the international community should promote by patiently establishing
economic and political sanctions against the use of force. The pope also suggested that nations reallocate a part of their normal military spending toward projects of economic and social development, education and health care. “That would undoubtedly contribute to stability inside countries and between peoples.”—CNS