The Southern Cross - 101222

www.scross.co.za

December 22 to December 28, 2010

Pilgrimage: Travelling to Mary

R5,50 (incl VaT Rsa) Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4709

FULL-PAGE POSTER

2010’s lessons for 2011

Page 8

Page 9

of Our Lady and child

Page 7

SA leaders decry ‘stigma’ of faith

BY ClaiRe maThiesON

Vatican to restore its rich photo archives

BY JOhN ThaVis

T

HE Vatican is embarking on a project to restore and digitise its archive of more than 8 million photographic images.

The images, which date to the 1930s, comprise a unique visual history of seven pontificates. But many of the negatives have been damaged by handling and poor storage, officials said.

The restoration project, unveiled at a news conference, will take at least five years. The negatives—including early glass plate negatives—will be cleaned and scanned for digital preservation, and a new storage facility will control temperature and humidity levels to prevent future damage.

The archive had its beginnings in the 1930s, when Rome photographer Francesco Giordani set up a photo studio near the Vatican and was called to do various portraits of Pope Pius XI. He was called more and more often when the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano began publishing photos in its pages, and by the 1960s, his archive was already immense.

When Mr Giordani retired in 1977, the photo archive was left with the Vatican, which didn’t really know what to do with the collection. After being temporarily housed at the Vatican Museums and elsewhere, it was entrusted to the offices of L’Osservatore.

Officials said much of the damage to the negatives was the result of handling—not surprising, since many of the images were enlarged and printed for journalists, or for pilgrims and other guests who wanted mementos of papal audiences and events.

Since 2006, the Vatican photographers have worked almost exclusively with digital cameras.—CNS

This scan from a damaged negative shows Cardinal eugenio Pacelli, left, with other cardinals as they arrive on February 21, 1939, for a conclave at the Vatican after the death of Pope Pius Xi. Cardinal Pacelli was elected the new pope and chose the name Pius Xii. The Vatican is embarking on a project to restore and digitise its vast photo archive.

(Photo: l’Osservatore Romano/CNs)

W

HILE the recent attacks on Christians in the Middle East have been condemned, the Church has been quick to say that such attacks should not be attributed to the religion of Islam as a whole.

In his message for World Peace Day on January 1, Pope Benedict focuses on religious freedom, how it can contribute to world peace and why it is important for all to embrace and respect religious freedom.

The message, which is titled “Religious Freedom, the Path to Peace”, distinguishes between authentic religious freedom, which respects human dignity and life, and religious fundamentalism, in which the truth is manipulated or exploited to the detriment of people.

Some religious leaders believe that while South Africa protects religious freedom, more needs to be done.

South African Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein said that religion has emerged as one of the most powerful forces of the 21st century.

He said many people regard religious commitment as a threat, but it is important for a positive association to be made to this commitment.

South Africa has “shown that religion can be a force for abundant good”, Rabbi Goldstein said, pointing out that the National Religious Leaders Forum (NRLF) brings together, under one banner, all religious movements and communities in the country.

Rabbi Goldstein said prejudice against religion is the stigma that needed to be dissuaded.

Stuart Hepburn, administrative director for the Mahasiddha Kadampa Buddhist Centre in Durban, said South Africans do experience religious freedom to a certain degree but “many people are pressured or inhibited by their community, family or friends”. While the constitution allows citizens to practice religion, there was stigma that was still perpetuated in society that inhibited total religious freedom, Mr Hepburn said.

The Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) said that umbrella bodies such as the NRLF allow different religions to implement common morals. The MJC’s Moulana Shuaib Appleby said Islamic law, when correctly applied, “ensures that peace is well rooted and firmly embedded within the world as all actions and deeds which undermine peace and stability are abhorrent and not permissible deeds”. He said these concepts were common in religions and it was important to collaborate with these morals in mind.

Fr Christopher Clohessy, a Cape Town priest and expert on Islam, said over the years the Catholic Church has been involved in interreligious activities, but noted a decline in activity.

He pointed out there was only so much that could be done as the major religions in the country are different.

“When we had a common enemy, like apartheid, the various religions of the country came together. A common cause will always bring people together, no matter how different they may be. We don’t really have a common enemy at the moment, so our interreligious work is limited,” the priest said.

Rabbi Goldstein said the NRLF encourages diverse groups to work together. The South African dream, he said, is about diverse people living together in unity. “One of the most important areas in which this dream has been manifest is that of religion,” he said.

The leaders interviewed by The Southern Cross agreed that interreligious activities are

Fireworks light up the sky near the Christmas tree display in Puerto Princesa City, Philippines. The Philippines observe one of the longest Christmas holidays in the world beginning with dawn masses on december 16, to the feast of Three Kings in the first week of January.

(Photo: Romeo Ranoco, Reuters/CNs)

important in alleviating social conditions, including poverty and the effects of HIV/Aids.

Mr Appleby said faith-based organisations and religious leaders need to implement a viable and common moral regeneration programme within their respective communities and the general South African nation.

Mr Hepburn said the way to advance religious freedom in South Africa is “to organise inter-faith meetings, communicating and making a concerted effort to build friendly and respectful relationships that nurture understanding and tolerance [and to] organise family events common to different religious communities”. It is important for the religious leaders to learn to understand, respect and honour each other, he said, adding that “this will reflect in their teachings and then also filter through to the communities”.

Rabbi Goldstein said the continued survival and endurance of post-apartheid South Africa will “depend on our combining to formulate a common moral, religious and spiritual vision”.

Speaking on generalisations, Fr Clohessy said there was a danger of associating certain acts of violence with religions.

Recent attacks on Christians in the Middle East should not be seen as a reflection of the religion of Islam. He said textually the Koran is peaceful.

“How people interpret the text is what brings about some of the so-called religious attacks,” Fr Clohessy said, adding that there are many examples of fundamentalism in all religions including Christianity and Judaism.

“If we could learn for ourselves as leaders and teach others the difference between religion and spirituality the world would be a better place,” Fr Clohessy said.

He described religion as the “packaging” which is not as important as spirituality.

Mr Appleby agreed that incidents such as the recent attacks in the Middle East are geopolitical and not a reflection of religion.

Rabbi Goldstein and Mr Hepburn both identified furthering unity as the only way to decrease inter-religion animosity.

International prize for Boksburg priest

BY NeilaN adams

A

BOKSBURG priest has received the Michael Bell Memorial Award of the International Alliance of Catholic Knights.

Franciscan Father Stan Brennan was nominated in the individual category by the Knights of da Gama (KdG).

Robin Lydall, the KdG’s supreme councillor, said that Fr Brennan, 80, “has dedicated his life to the upliftment and encouragement of the poor”, as well as seeking to provide them with life skills and the means to earn a living in order to give people dignity and hope.

Fr Brennan’s education projects include an adult basic education programme, which he started in 1966, a day care centre for the aged, started in 1967, and the “Matric Project” which assists over 700 students every year.

In 1988 Fr Brennan initiated the House of Mercy, which rehabilitates alcohol and drug abusers. St Anthony’s Skills Development centre, founded in 1994, teaches unemployed people skills with which to earn a living, such as shoe repairing, welding, knitting, bricklaying and building.

In 1992, Fr Brennan opened St Francis Care Centre in Boksburg, for people dying of Aids-related illnesses, which now has two free clinics and four teams of homebased care workers serving their own communities as well as a children’s home for over 30 children and a nursery school.

In 2006, Fr Brennan formed Mercy Haven, a shelter for abused women and children.

All programmes are autonomous, stand-alone registered non-profit organisations and perform their own fund-raising duties.

2

The southern Cross, december 22 to december 28, 2010

50 Years in tune

BY ClaiRe maThiesON

L

ORRAINE LIEDEMAN has celebrated 50 years in the music ministry.

An organist in various parishes in the archdiocese of Cape Town, she described her journey as a “pilgrim going where there was a need”.

Mrs Liedeman began her tenure as an organist on Christmas Eve in 1960 at Holy Cross’ District Six in Cape Town as a recent convert to the faith.

She attributes her long service to education.

“It was hard! The Holy Cross Sisters pushed me. But I appreciate it today because they were trying to groom me for my ministry.” Mrs Liedeman said the Holy Cross Sisters have been a source of inspiration her whole life.

Gus Galante has been the parish organist of St Agnes in Woodstock for more than half a century and worked on the scene with Mrs

Liedeman. He said her accomplishing 50 years service is not only a tremendous feat but is also vitally important for the community.

“We don’t see many young organists coming through these days, so it’s up to those already in service to continue.”

Mr Galante said Mrs Liedeman’s achievement was a great accomplishment. He said organists provide far more than background music— they can contribute to the spirit of the community.

Mrs Liedeman also renders her service to various Catholic organisations including the Christian Welfare and Development’s Catholic Caring Network.

Former manager Stephanie Kilroe said Mrs Liedeman was passionate about playing the organ at church, saying she was “always pleasant, hardworking [and] the ideal colleague. I hope she has accolades and blessings heaped on her head.”

Ursulines of the Blessed Virgin Mary We are the Ursulines of the Blessed Virgin Mary, called to serve Christ through education of girls, women and servants, pastoral and social work.

Do you feel God’s call? Join us.

Contact Vocation directress: Ursuline Sisters PO Box 36 Ngqeleni 5140 Cell: 072 958 2111 OR Box 212 Libode 5160 Tel: 047 555 0018

LOCAL

Warning: SA could get food riots

BY ClaiRe maThiesON

F

OOD security came under the spotlight at a presentation of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO), a research body of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

In her final research paper for the office, Rebecca Burns from the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at Notre Dame University in the United States, said that while South Africa has the right to food written into its constitution, the framework that attempts to deliver this promise needs to be reconsidered.

According to Ms Burns, South Africa is generally considered a “food secure” country at the national level, but countrywide data from the General Household Survey in 2008 suggests that as many as 2,8 million South African households experience hunger, and a further 14,5 million households are vulnerable.

Despite this, South Africa has been earmarked as being vital to food security on the continent.

The riots that took place in Maputo, Mozambique, in September were caused as a result of the sharp increase of the price of bread, Ms Burns said. The riots left 13 people dead and hundreds wounded.

She explained the increase in the price of bread was attributed to the fact that “Mozambique is dependent on imports [and] grows only about 30% of its own wheat”.

“It imports heavily from South Africa [and] the strengthening of the rand was a major factor in the increase,” she said.

Mozambique, like much of Africa, is considered food insecure. Ms Burns said new global food security plans have been launched in order to avoid similar rioting reactions and increased hunger in the future.

“The new focus is on ‘agricultural transformation’ through the commercialisation of farming, technology transfer and investment in heavy infrastructure.”

She said projects like these assume that increasing produc-

Researcher Rebecca Burns ended her internship with the CPlO with a presentation on food security in south africa. ms Burns returns to Notre dame University to complete her studies at the Kroc institute for international Peace studies. (Photo Claire mathieson) tion is key to food security but in her research, this might not be the solution. “Interventions that aim primarily to increase agricultural production or facilitate market integration have a poor track record of promoting secure entitlements to food.”

Instead, smaller scale projects were suggested. Ms Burns said she had found, with limited sampling, that there is a significant skills base in farming and gardening in townships and that localisation of food production could reduce poverty.

“The localisation of economic activity has the potential to decrease structural poverty and food insecurity and increase food sovereignty, but a localised agricultural economy requires active intervention by national and local government.”

Ms Burns said government needs to have policy commitment to food security with structures that will cohesively attend to the areas of concern in

the country.

International support is increasing and is important for disaster management, but, Ms Burns said, the focus needs to be on ensuring sustainability. The Green Revolution, a movement that took place in Asia and Latin America in the 1970s, has been revised for an African context with the Gates and Rockefeller foundations as well as the United States government getting behind the movement.

South Africa, the top importer and exporter of food in Africa, has been identified as a strategic partner in rolling out the new food security plans across the continent. Ms Burns said South Africa has an important role to play in the food security of the continent—not only through direct support, but also because South Africa is an important hub of agricultural research. Today, South Africa is the fourth largest planter of genetically modified maize in the world.

Ms Burns also found that vulnerability to food insecurity is highest among groups that are economically marginalised and lack access to productive resources. She said the only way to improve this situation, even in a country like South Africa that is considered secure, is to have “reliable baseline estimates, clear targets, and an adequate monitoring system to track the success of food initiatives”.

Ms Burns said that one thing that is often forgotten is that food insecurity is highly “interrelated to, but not synonymous with, poverty”. Food has survival and cultural importance, and food insecurity affects both the dignity and the livelihood of people.

In the presentation, Ms Burns said that local control must be promoted to alleviate local issues.

With the international push for a “new Green Revolution” in Africa, South Africa may become more influential in agricultural production across the continent.

However, Ms Burns said, the big question was what strategies should South Africa pursue to fulfill the right to food at home and promote it abroad?

What’s new with you?

Send your news and photographs to: The Southern Cross, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000 Y o u c a n a l s o e m a i l : pics@scross.co.za

For further info, contact: Vocations Director, St Norbert’s Priory PO Box 48106, Kommetjie, 7976 (Cape Town) OR Tel 021 783 1768 Fax 021 783 3742

LOCAL

The southern Cross, december 22 to december 28, 2010

3

SA education ‘atrocious’

BY ClaiRe maThiesON

S

IM TSHABALALA, Standard Bank CEO, has told Catholic schools that more well-educated people are needed in South Africa.

Mr Tshabalala was speaking at the International Sustainable Catholic School Leadership Conference hosted by the Catholic Institute of Education (CIE.) The 2010 Global Competitiveness Report from the World Economic Forum found that an inadequately educated workforce was the second biggest constraint to doing business in South Africa after crime. The report, which placed Switzerland, Sweden and Singapore in the top three positions, had South Africa at 59.

However, South Africa was in last position among 133 countries surveyed for the quality of maths and science education.

Mr Tshabalala said the problem with the system is that it is not producing the skills needed to fuel the economy.

Speaking to delegates from South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, Mr Tshabalala said many more skilled workers are needed for economical growth. “[We] very badly need many more well educated people,” he said.

Mr Tshabalala’s address outlined a number of key chal-

lenges currently facing business leaders in South Africa. These include the unemployment rate and, the level of income inequality—which are both the highest of any major economy— HIV, crime, corruption and infrastructure. He added that the state of the country’s education system was “simply atrocious”.

He said teachers and principals played an important role in helping to address many of these challenges which would aid economic growth.

The business world relied on educators to provide South Africa with its next generation of skilled people and leaders, Mr Tshabalala said.

He also pointed out that leadership was particularly important.

CIE Director Mark Potterton said building sustainable Catholic school leadership was an important subject in the current education landscape.

Mr Tshabalala listed the types of leadership skills he believed should be key to develop and help shape strong business leaders of the future. He said “versatile men and women” is key because they are the type of people to have both personal and societal views which would be inspirational to others.

“They need to have values— to stand for something greater

than themselves. They must be people with initiative so that they can take action without being policed,” he said.

Mr Tshabalala also said the leaders of the future need to be volunteers, well read and have financial and economic skills.

He said these people need to be well educated and this must start at the very foundational levels in South Africa’s schools.

The CIE has been engaged in redrafting of the country’s education policy. In November, The Southern Cross reported that representatives of the Catholic Church met with basic education minister Angie Motshekga to discuss the challenges facing Catholic education.

The delegation delivered a document to the minister tabling the challenges currently facing schools.

From manners and etiquette to patriotism and networking, Mr Tshabalala said there was no reason why South African schools could not shape young people in this direction.

“These are the skills and people we need if South Africa is to shore up its national competitive advantage.” Mr Tshabalala said that if South Africa is going to grow its economy and improve the lives of its citizens then the change needed to start with education.

as part of the children’s liturgy programme, children from st dominic’s parish in Boksburg, who are between three and seven-yearsold, made their own onedecade finger rosaries.

Youth participate in the salesian institute’s lovematters programme. The programme has been offered here for the past six years as a residential behaviour change programme.

A century of Salesians

BY ClaiRe maThiesON

T

HE Salesian institute has been serving the youth of Cape Town for more than 100 years.

The local Salesians of Don Bosco, known for their charity work with young, especially the poor, and the education of boys to the priesthood, started working in the city in 1896 when five pioneers arrived from England. Today the institute is also known for its services offered to the greater Catholic community.

According to Br Peter Simmonds SDB, the first Salesians arrived in Cape Town in 1896 and set up workshops for training boys in printing, book-binding and joinery. The workshops were supported through orders for products from private individuals and churches.

The well known Salesian Catholic Repository was born when the Salesians took over the existing Catholic bookshop in Cape Town. Br Simmonds said the repository became an agency for church furnishings and equipment produced by the joinery workshop.

“When in 1910 the Salesian Institute was relocated to its present site in Somerset Road, it was designed to include the repository as well as more adequate workshops, classrooms and dormitories for 100 pupils,” Br Simmonds said.

A second wing saw the expansion of the institute with the inclusion of a technical high school that had “a fine new joinery workshop and a new depart-

ment for metal work”. These workshops supplied most of the wood and metal church furnishings to the churches in the areas and are still available today.

Br Simmonds said the repository does three primary things today: supply churches with furnishings, supply the faithful with devotional articles, and help spread the faith through the distribution of Bibles and other books.

The Salesian Institute has responded to the plight of youth on the street—many of whom are considered at risk, both physically and morally.

Br Simmonds said the institute opened an informal educational programme in the early 1990s for boys and girls from the street.

“The Learn to Live programme offers street children basic literacy and reorientation to prepare for re-entry into the regular school system,” he said. The programme also provides training in woodwork, metalwork, leatherwork, panel beating and spray painting.

Other projects provide training to young school leavers to enable them to join the job market.

“The centenary being celebrated in 2010/11 represents one hundred years of response to the needs of youth and, in the case of the repository, to the needs of the Church in Cape Town and throughout South Africa,” Br Simmonds said, adding that the jubilee marked an important time as the order was able to reflect on the work done but also look forward to many more years of service.

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4

The southern Cross, december 22 to december 28, 2010

INTERNATIONAL

Web page helps discern vocation

N

INE years ago, Natalie Smith thought something had to be done to reverse the vocations

crisis.

Ms Smith, a convert to Catholicism who had worked in marketing, was convinced there should be a database of candidates and also a wide range of resources available for people considering a vocation. So she turned to the Internet.

In 2001, Ms Smith and a group of others formed Vocations Placement Ministry in Coral Springs, Florida.

The group received permission to use a vocational assessment survey developed years ago by priests and used in print form in Catholic high schools.

Now the test is available online at www.testyourcalling.org.

Ms Smith said that once people

take the survey, members of Vocation Placement Ministry provide them with any information they need about nearby religious communities or dioceses, and also follows up with these candidates until they are finished with the discernment process.

Although the candidates themselves take the first step , they are given guidance along the way. The group helps people “who may not have the confidence to knock on the vocations director’s door or not even know there is such a person”, Ms Smith said, adding that the volunteers are simply “conduits of support”.

In the past nine years, 30 000 people have taken the vocations survey and more than 900 have reportedly applied or entered religious life after taking it, she said.—CNS

Sudan tug-of-war fears

BY PaUl JeFFReY

A

S residents of Southern Sudan prepare for the January 9 referendum on breaking away from the rest of the country, Church leaders are struggling to keep a separate vote from derailing the South’s move towards independence.

The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ending decades of civil war provides for a separate referendum in the border region of Abyei, allowing residents there to decide whether they’ll remain part of the North or cast their lot with the South, which is expected to vote for separation.

Yet negotiations on the Abyei referendum have broken down over a dispute on whether the nomadic Arab Misseriya, who bring their cattle to Abyei during the dry season, should be allowed to vote. The government in Khartoum has insisted the Misseriya should participate in the referendum, while the southern government in Juba has maintained that only the permanent residents of Abyei, mostly members of the Dinka Ngok tribe, should be allowed to cast a ballot.

The exact date of the vote is in question following the US State Department’s acknowledgment this month that the January balloting on Abyei will not take place as planned.

Church leaders are angered by the delay.

“Abyei isn’t important for the North. It’s only being held hostage now because the North doesn’t want the South to split off,” said Fr John Oryem, coordinator of the Justice and Peace Commission for the diocese of El Obeid, which includes Abyei.

T

he dispute over Abyei turned violent in 2008 when northern troops went on a rampage, burning most of the main town and displacing 25 000 residents.

Fr Peter Suleiman, pastor of Our Lady of the Annunciation parish in Abyei, recalled finding the church in ruins when United Nations troops escorted him into the smoking city.

Although it became a target in the war, the Church has not retreated from working for peace. Representatives of the Sudan Council of Churches, which includes the Catholic Church, are working to establish a dialogue between Dinka Ngok and Misseriya leaders.

Fr Oryem recently led a workshop on peace-building for local tribal elders in Abyei, although he said the Church was unable to convince Misseriya leaders to participate.

Young members of Christ the King parish dance during an outdoor mass in malakal, southern sudan. a peaceful community located near what could become the border with the North if the south gains its independence in the January 9 referendum, malakal is bracing for potential conflict. (Photo: Paul Jeffrey/CNs) The nomads, Fr Suleiman said, have nothing to fear from southerners if all they want is to graze their animals in Abyei, a right guaranteed by the 2005 agreement.

“The Dinkas will allow the Misseriya to bring their animals to drink water, free of charge.

They just want the Misseriya not to be armed. The Misseriya want a guarantee that if they are unarmed, no one will rob their cows. The Sudanese People’s Liberation Army [the southern government’s military] has said it will protect the Misseriya, but the Misseriya don’t trust the SPLA,” the priest said.

Although Abyei is often referred to in news articles as “oil-rich”, its glory days of drilling are past. Today, Abyei produces less than 1% of Sudan’s total petroleum output.

Its value now lies more in its fertility. In a region suffering increasing desertification, Abyei has water and fertile soil.

John Ashworth of the Denis Hurley Peace Institute in Pretoria, an adviser to the Sudan Ecumenical Forum, said Abyei’s importance derives less from its resources and more from its symbolic visibility as a coveted prize in the political tug of war between the North and South.

A

byei’s residents are growing tired of being pulled in two directions. In late November, one Dinka Ngok leader announced that if negotiations on the referendum led nowhere, the people of Abyei would consider holding their own vote in January.

“It really doesn’t matter to Khartoum whether Abyei ends

up in the North or the South, but as a bargaining chip it’s very important,” said Mr Ashworth.

“Southerners want it, precisely because the people of Abyei are southerners. Yet there’s a point beyond which people at the grassroots won’t go. You can bargain with their lives up to a point, and then they pick up their guns and say, ‘We don’t care what you do with your army, but we aren’t going to compromise any further.’”

Renewed violence in the region seems more likely given an October report from the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey that Khartoum had sent troops, tanks and heavy weapons to an area just north of Abyei. Southern leaders in Juba have accused Khartoum of rearming the Misseriya, which served as a proxy militia for the North during the long civil war.

Paul Nantulya, a technical consultant on peace-building for Catholic Relief Services, said the international community is partly to blame for the deterioration of negotiations over Abyei’s future.

Mr Nantulya said the government in Khartoum repeatedly has been allowed to renegotiate issues that were resolved by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

“Khartoum is now demanding that the Misseriya be allowed to vote, which is a violation of the CPA. Yet, instead of the Obama administration saying this is a violation, it pressures the South to compromise even more,” Mr Nantulya said.—CNS n See also page 10.

Capuchin Franciscans  Cape Town:speak to Brother Sonny 021 591 1911 sonnygady@yahoo.co.in  Port Elizabeth:speak to Brother Matthew 041 368 3033 rev.mattgormley@gmail.com  Pretoria: speak to Brother Kees 012 345 5680 keesbus@telkomsa.net

Before Christmas we as Capuchin Franciscans spent time together to plan our future,to reflect on how to serve, especially the poor. And we prayed together as real brothers of St Francis of Assisi. Do you feel perhaps you are being invited by Jesus to join us? Want to share about it?

Contact your vocations director for a chat.

We wish you season’s greetings and a blessed and fruitful New Year!

INTERNATIONAL

The southern Cross, december 22 to december 28, 2010

5

Iraqi attack victims don’t want to go home

BY CaROl GlaTz

T

Youths protest outside the syrian Catholic cathedral in Baghdad this month, seeking answers about the October 31 terrorist siege in which 58 people died. (Photo: Thaier al-sudani, Reuters/CNs)

WO Iraqi women wore, pinned to their lapels, pictures of the loved ones they lost in a terrorist attack on a church in Baghdad. One had photos of her husband and young son, and the other had a creased black and white portrait of her mother stuck securely over her heart.

Others wore rosaries around their necks or holy medals fastened to their shirts as a way to remember and pay witness to their Christian faith.

Forty-seven Iraqi Christian survivors of the October 31 attack on the Syrian Catholic cathedral in Baghdad were among the many guests invited to a special com-

memoration of the 58 people who died during the terrorist siege of the church and the military raid that brought it to an end.

One woman, who asked not to be named, said she lost her father, her brother, his wife and their four-month-old baby who was bludgeoned to death by the terrorist attackers. Her three sisters were spared because they stayed home that Sunday morning, she said.

The petite 24-year-old woman said with a shy smile that her loved ones “had the best death you could have: inside a church while praying. It’s a testament of faith”.

She was one of 26 injured Iraqis—including three children— who came to Rome to receive treatment at the Gemelli Hospital.

The Italian foreign ministry arranged for the injured Iraqis and 21 accompanying family members to fly to Rome.

Fr Hani al-Jameel, an Iraqi priest from Nineveh who is studying in Rome said it has been difficult to figure out what is best for the Iraqi families. Most want to stay in Italy, but it would represent “a huge loss” for Iraq and the families they leave behind, he said.

“My advice is for them to go back, but I feel their fear.”

The call to not give in to fear and to stay in Iraq was echoed in the speeches at the embassy event, which was attended by Vatican diplomats and officials, including Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and Mgr Khaled Akasheh, head of the

Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue’s section for relations with Muslims.

Archbishop Jules Mikhael alJamil, the Syrian Catholic Church’s representative to the Vatican, said: “We are Iraqis. We will not emigrate.”

Archbishop al-Jamil criticised the “infidels who have nothing to do with religion” who are trying to eliminate Christians from the Middle East by terrorising them with threats, kidnappings and killings.

He called on Muslims to come out more forcefully against terrorist elements and called on Western nations to help improve security in Iraq to favour the creation of “a new Orient that would be like a mosaic of different religions”.— CNS

Dutch Church: Action on abuse

BY JONaThaN lUXmOORe

T

HE Dutch bishops’ conference has pledged action after nearly 2 000 people complained of sexual abuse by Catholic priests during an inquiry by an independent commission.

The complaints, dating to 1945, were received by a Church-appointed commission established by the bishops to investigate abuse cases.

“We’re grateful to this commission for its prompt and professional recommendations, and we reiterate our condemnation of all forms of sexual abuse,” said Pieter Kohnnen, spokesman for the Utrecht-based bishops’ conference.

“When the bishops asked for this investigation, they stressed that helping victims should have absolute priority, and that the research should be transparent and independent. This is very important if the Church is to avoid future abuse,” he said of the findings by the commission headed by former education minister Wim Deetman, a Protestant.

Mr Kohnnen said the Catholic Church believed “excuses and apologies are not

enough”, and that “firm action” is needed.

“The Church has to take responsibility for what has happened. If the government or parliament say this isn’t enough, they have a right to take further action,” Mr Kohnnen said. “It’s understandable that there’s a lack of trust in the Church, and it won’t be easy to rebuild this at a fundamental level.”

Addressing a news conference in The Hague, Mr Deetman said 1 975 people had filed claims of abuse—100 times the usual annual number—since March when a wave of allegations broke against Catholic clergy.

He was “very satisfied” with cooperation by Church officials.

Several cases have already been referred to Dutch prosecutors, he added.

“Victims got in touch and told us their story. We’re grateful for that,” Mr Deetman said.

“I understand these victims.

Some of them, many, have faced one disappointment after another for 39, 40 or 50 years and feel they’ve been banging their heads against the wall,” he added.

The Deetman commission,

established in August, collected testimonies in collaboration with the Church’s Hulp en Recht (Help and Law) organisation, which was established in 1995 by the Dutch bishops to help abuse victims.

In the commission’s findings, Mr Deetman said some abuse victims wanted financial compensation, while others favoured self-help groups to “ease the suffering”.

He also said that Hulp en Recht had failed to work properly with abuse victims and explained that the aim now should be to “regain trust and do justice to the victims” as well as make compensation available.

Mr Kohnnen said the bishops’ conference had seen the commission’s findings just before the press conference and would meet to consider its consequences with leaders of religious orders and the executive board of Hulp en Recht.

Plans for implementing commission recommendations would include either a “drastic reorganisation” of Hulp en Recht or the creation of a “completely new Church organisation” for helping victims, Mr Kohnnen said.—CNS

Vatican, PLO negotiate

BY CaROl GlaTz

T

HE Vatican and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) have resumed diplomatic talks and agreed to establish a working group dedicated to drafting a comprehensive agreement between the two parties.

The talks are aimed at establishing “a comprehensive international agreement regulating and promoting the presence and activities of the Catholic Church in the Palestinian territories, so strengthening the special relations between the Holy See and the PLO”, said a joint statement released by the Vatican.

The statement said the talks, held in the West Bank town of Ramallah in were designed to elaborate ways to implement the “Basic Agreement” between the Vatican and the PLO, an agreement signed in 2000 spelling out principles for guaranteeing Church rights and religious freedom in territories administered by the Palestinian Authority.—CNS

THE VOCATION DIRECTOR St Benedict’s Abbey PO Box 2189 0700 Polokwane

THE ABBOT Inkamana Abbey P/Bag 9333 3100 Vryheid

6

LEADER PAGE

The southern Cross, december 22 to december 28, 2010

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Editor: Günther Simmermacher

A new mission

P

OPE Benedict dominated headlines in the secular and Catholic press in 2010. Some of these were welcome, while others most certainly were not.

The treatment Pope Benedict received over the sexual abuse scandal at times was manifestly malicious. It is right that the press should ask questions of the head of the Catholic Church, and issue criticisms where appropriate. But it did not always play out that way. The press held the pope responsible for covering up abuses, a notion that did not correspond with the facts, and accused him of being silent on abuse when demonstrably he hadn’t been.

Gradually it is emerging that as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger he had tried to act on abuses, generally and in specific cases, but his efforts were rejected by others in the Roman curia. As Pope Benedict, he is now facing the backlash for exactly that which he had tried to address. Alas, the new insights into the pope’s attempts to handle abuses are not receiving headline treatment in the secular press.

And so the public—including many Catholics who do not avail themselves of the Catholic media—is being presented with a distorted image of Pope Benedict.

Many presumed that this image and the perceived inexorable process of secularisation was going to derail Pope Benedict’s visit to Britain in September. The Vatican itself was greatly concerned about the reception the Holy Father would receive, while the Church’s critics gleefully anticipated pratfalls and a wholesale rejection of the pope and his message.

As we know, the pope was warmly and enthusiastically received and gave his critics no cause for Schadenfreude.

Long before his pontificate began, Pope Benedict had made the revival of Catholicism in Europe a priority.

This year he established the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation to “find the right means to re-propose the perennial truth of the Gospel”.

The cheering crowds in Britain, many of them young people, will have given the New Evangelisation project a massive kick-start. The World Youth Day in Madrid next August doubtless will reinforce an appreciation that many young Europeans are open to receiving the Gospel message of the Church.

After the experience of the papal trip to Britain, New Evangelisation might well become a running story even among those media that had previously found it not newsworthy when popes drew hundreds of thousands of people to World Youth Day Mass in Paris, Rome, Cologne or Sydney.

In a way, the coverage of the abuse scandal has revived interest in the Catholic Church and its supreme pontiff. Unwelcome though the distortions that accompanied some of that coverage were, the increased fascination with the Catholic Church may well aid the New Evangelisation.

While the New Evangelisation mission is directed mostly at traditionally Christian Europe, which has experienced drastic cultural shifts in the past decades, and North America, it will also have application in some traditional mission territories.

This includes South Africa, where in some strata of society we are facing what Pope Benedict has called “the eclipse of a sense of God”.

In a December 2000 address to catechists, Cardinal Ratzinger said: “Everyone needs the Gospel; the Gospel is destined to all and not only a specific circle and this is why we are obliged to look for new ways of bringing the Gospel to all.”

And this obligation applies to all Catholics as the Church seeks to reawaken the faith of people who have lost it.

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.

Apology to the Holy Father OME six months ago in the midst of the sex abuse controversy in the Church and what appeared to be the silence of the pope on the matter, I lampooned him as the absent-minded professor in his ivory tower, unaware of what was happening around him.

I now wish to apologise most sincerely to the Holy Father for that mistaken judgement. Three things have motivated this apology: Firstly, it was most noticeable since then that in each country he visited, the Holy Father made a

point of meeting representatives of victims of abuse and he obviously shared in their anguish and pain.

Secondly, his “miraculous” visit to Britain (to quote Chris Moerdyk), during which he won over the hearts of many by his deep personal interest in them all. He truly was a “man for all seasons” (young and old) and rightly earned the nickname “Holy grandfather”.

Finally, and this point has particular relevance to our country, the news that the pope has said that in the fight against Aids, condoms may be used, something long advo-

cated by Bishop Dowling, if I am not mistaken. Indeed, it can be readily included in our teaching on the culture of life on the grounds that life already existing takes precedence over the possibility of new life being conceived.

I conclude this apology with the prayer that God may continue to guide, guard and bless our pope as he captains the barque of Peter on the very stormy seas we sail on today.

Aideen Gonlag, St Michaels-on-sea, Kwa-Zulu Natal

Ever-present needy

Governance problems first

R

A

at this level to be if anything more severe. Areas of national competence, such as defence and home affairs, have their own maladies.

By extension, the frequent failure of parliament to hold the executive to account is not an argument to abolish parliament or its committees, but to examine why they are not performing their functions.

Even for those opposed to devolution, abolishing or restructuring provinces can have no positive impact until the issue of state capacity has been addressed. And trying to “share” the limited expertise available across ever-wider areas will likely simply stretch it to breaking point. Nor is it clear that it will lead to any significant savings.

Presumably civil servants in regional centres will still be needed to administer service provision.

The savings on provincial legislatures and executive councils will likely be offset by expanded national ministries and the uptake of “redeployed” politicians in the civil service.

The article is correct, though, to suggest that thought be given to the role of provinces. Provinces have potentially significant powers, in terms of implementation responsibility and oversight. Successful initiatives in one province should provide a demonstration effect for others. If provincial governments have chosen not to use these powers, or the opportunities they present, then it needs to be asked why.

If, as I suspect, it has to do with the centralising impulses of the ruling party, then we all need to think carefully about what that means for the overall quality of and prospects for governance. But in any event, until we understand and deal with the underlying governance problems, any talk of changing the system is premature.

John Moodey , DA Leader, Gauteng Provincial Legislature, Johannesburg

S

E-READING a back issue of Living Faith, Claire J King asked: “Why do we have the needy?”

Though there are free medical clinics, homeless shelters, food pantries, recovery programmes, there is a seemingly never-ending stream of hungry people, homeless people, out-of-work people and people in need.

With all this generosity, why does the need still persist? How can this be?

Peter Maurin, wrote that “...to give to the rich the occasion to do good for Christ’s sake”. But a gentle tender voice whispered in my ear: “But by the grace of God, there go I.” HM de Kock, Cape Town

Temperance pioneers

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WISH to thank David Johannes (November 17) for his fine photo of a gathering of pioneers in Matjieskloof.

I know of religious teachers in two schools in Johannesburg who recently made a concerted effort to teach about the use/abuse of alcohol to grades five to 11, over 28 class periods. They are convinced that the abuse of alcohol is widespread, even among young people.

One teacher referred to it as a cancer in society.

It is worth noting the pioneer pledge prayer, often called the heroic offering, which neatly sums up the positive and spiritual side of the pioneers.

“For your greater glory and consolation, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for your sake to give good example, to practise self-denial, to make reparation to you for the sins of intemperance, and for the conversion of excessive drinkers, I will abstain from all intoxicating drink.”

Br George Whyte, Johannesburg

S a Catholic politician, I hesitate to use Church media.

However, the piece in The Southern Cross on the Church’s stance vis-à-vis provinces “Rethink on Provinces” (November 17) requires a response.

As an opposition member of the Gauteng provincial legislature, I obviously have an interest in this.

My party advocates a federal system as a matter of policy, while sub-national governments offer us an opportunity to challenge the prevailing dynamics of the country’s politics.

It is true that South Africa’s system is not perfectly unitary or federal, but why should this compromise governance? Across the world, there are numerous models of devolved governance that do not neatly match these descriptions. Spain, for example, grants certain areas more autonomy than others, while Germany served as a model of sorts for South Africa.

South Africa’s governance problems are not caused by institutional design, but by the general weakness of the state as a whole. The key failure, by and large, has been to build a skilled and professional public service.

The technical and managerial skills needed to make a modern state function, have too often been absent or subordinated to concerns of demography and political loyalty. This is a serious problem in many provinces, but it is not limited to them. Local government was the subject of an official 2009 report that showed the problems Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in letters to the editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate. letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

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PERSPECTIVES

The southern Cross, december 22 to december 28, 2010

I’m sure Mary and Joseph bickered

I

DON’T know why Professor William Ochieng’ threw that huge tantrum the other day.

Prof Ochieng’ is a respected Kenyan historian, one of those who cut their teeth in academia several decades ago by demonstrating that there is indeed African history, a complex and much deeper area of knowledge than European colonialists were willing to admit. Prof Ochieng’ has written extensively about Africa and its peoples.

So, many people must have been shocked when the scholar recently wrote: “Marriage looks to me the most peculiar, irrational, selfish and restrictive institution man ever invented. I only hope future Kenyan generations will have the moral courage to abolish it. For I am sure the human race can continue without it.”

That coming from an African historian?

Shocking. If there is one thing that is at the core of African life, it is the family, built on marriage. The world over, Africans are known for their strong families, so much so that the first African Synod of 1994 gave Catholics the concept of the Church as the family of God. Why is Prof Ochieng’ so damning of marriage? He is not just an African historian but also an elder. In Africa, elders are revered for their wisdom. Why would an elder call on future generations of Kenyans to abolish marriage? Why would he say marriage has no role in the continuity of the human race?

Prof Ochieng’ was commenting on the sad reality that marriage is in a serious crisis in Kenya today. Hardly a day passes

without reports of terrible domestic violence. Angry husbands have butchered their wives and children and then hanged themselves. Wives have poisoned their husbands or children before killing themselves.

Alcoholism and drug use connected to dysfunctional marriages are on the rise.

Marital infidelity is now the leading source of new HIV infections. The national HIV/Aids agency says there are between 7 000 and 10 000 commercial sex workers in Nairobi alone every single night.

Even small Kenyan towns now have street children, mostly products of failed families.

This is what led Prof Ochieng’ to despair about marriage. But is his radical suggestion the answer to this problem?

That is a good question to ask this Christmas season.

Rarely is the theme of marriage seen as connected to Christmas, perhaps because Baby Jesus is not the biological child of Joseph and Mary. And Church dogma says Mary remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus, till her death.

But that aside, Mary and Joseph were husband and wife. Did they lead a normal married life; I mean characterised by joys of companionship interspersed with tense moments of petty quarrels, mutual resentment, dissatisfaction and loneliness?

There surely must have been a day when Joseph the carpenter was broke and Mary perhaps thought he had drunk all the money, no? Or a day the couple nearly came to blows because Mary didn’t like that flashy woman who seemed to always

Travelling to Our Lady

A

GROTTO connects the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives with Mary’s Tomb.

Our group of 45 pilgrims didn’t use that, but crossed the street to arrive at the remains of the 5th century church of the Assumption.

Owned by the Greek Orthodox Church, which shares it with the Armenian Apostolic Church (with Syriacs, Copts, Abyssinians and Muslims also represented), the underground crypt’s ceilings are black from centuries of candle smoke and incense, and many icons are so covered by soot, it is difficult to make out what they represent. It’s an eerie place, far removed in ambience from the usually light artistic depictions of the Assumption.

Scripture is silent on Mary’s assumption into heaven, never mind where it took place. The notion that the course of Mary’s life ended in Ephesus in Turkey is fairly new. It is first mentioned in the 5th century by Nestorius (he of the Nestorian heresy), based on the tradition that St John went to Ephesus, combined with the presumption that he must have gone there with Mary, who had been placed by Jesus into John’s care. But the Ephesus idea did not get traction until the 19th century, through the visions of the German mystic Sr Catherine Emmerich (17741824).

Successive popes have visited Ephesus and the supposed place of Mary’s dormition (and therefore assumption). They never approved it as authentic, but the Ephesus narrative has taken hold.

On the other hand, ancient tradition places Mary’s dormition (or “falling asleep”) and subsequent assumption in Jerusalem, where we last encounter her in Scripture. The “Acts of St John by Prochu-

rus”, written by one Lencius around 165AD, acknowledges St John’s presence in Ephesus, but points out that he went there only after Mary’s death, possibly at the age of about 50. That would explain why St Paul, who often mentioned people by name, in his letter to the Ephesians makes no mention of John or of Jesus’ mother.

In 451 St Juvenal, the bishop of Jerusalem, noted that Mary’s tomb was opened in the presence of all the apostles in Jerusalem. They found it was empty.

This is at the core of the belief in the Assumption. There is nothing to suggest that the apostles congregated in Ephesus to open the tomb; indeed, the thought seems preposterous.

So Mary most likely ended her earthly sojourn in Jerusalem, the city in which her life probably began.

T

he New Testament is surprisingly stingy with biographical detail on the Mother of God. It doesn’t tell us where she was born, nor to whom. Her parents, Anne and Joachim, aren’t even mentioned.

Of course, the Bible is only part of the heritage from which we draw our Catholic dogma. Mary’s parentage is an ancient tradition, first mentioned in the apocryphal “Gospel of James”. Muslims also maintain a devotion to St Anne, whom they know by her Hebrew name, Hannah.

In Jerusalem, near St Stephen’s Gate and next to the Pools of Bethesda, a wellpreserved Crusader church, built in 1140, marks the place where tradition places Anne and Joachim’s home. On the same site, a church built in 450 commemorated Mary’s birthplace. The church is long gone, but a crypt in St Anne’s church is dedicated to Mary’s birth.

Henry Makori

have a broken something she wanted Joseph to fix in her house, yeah?

The Bible doesn’t dwell on these matters, which could well suggest that Mary and Joseph in fact lived married life “for better or for worse”. Had theirs been a spectacularly blissful life, completely different from the troubled situations of other couples in their neighbourhood, I think the Gospel writers would have noticed and documented it.

And indeed if the only flawless person in the history of humanity was Jesus Christ—and despite that he also got angry and impatient like all of us—it is safe to assume that the Holy Couple also went through the vagaries of married life.

At least I want to think so this Christmas. Someone has said that no matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

How about that, Prof Ochieng’? Because there are no perfect persons, there can be no perfect marriage. There is the good and the bad in each union. We need moral courage to live with the whole package— not to abolish the institution.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Günther Simmermacher The Pilgrim’s Trek Mary’s older cousin Elizabeth lived in Ein Karem, then a village in the hills, but now a part of the Jewish municipality of West Jerusalem.

On the day of our visit the streets were bustling with people preparing for the celebration of the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashana. But before 1948, Ein Karem was an Arab village. Its population was forcibly removed, helped along by the massacre of neighbouring Deir Yassin, in which Jewish paramilitaries killed 107 of the village’s 400-600 people, including women and children.

Two churches mark the homes of Elizabeth and her temporarily dumbstruck husband, Zecharia, the parents of John the Baptist. Set at the foot of a knoll, the church of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, beautifully decorated with Spanish tiles, is said to have been the couple’s usual residence.

Evidently a family of means, they had a summer residence on top of the hill, where Elizabeth spent most of her pregnancy. It is here where Mary, having rushed from Nazareth, visited her older cousin and recited the poem that would inspire the name of millions of feline pets.

It requires a bit of effort to reach the church of the Visitation, built by the great Antonio Barluzzi, but the mild toil is rewarded by the beauty of the church, its artworks, the plaques that reproduce the Magnificat in 50 languages, and a pilgrim’s setting that invites prayer—perhaps asking that our souls may magnify the Lord. n This is the ninth part in Günther Simmermacher’s series on The Southern Cross’ Passion Pilgrimage in September.

6-15 MAY

ST JOSEPH’S PILGRIMAGE

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The gift economy

letter from Nairobi

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SACRAL ARTWORK

(various size paintings, icons, stations of the cross, paintings and frame renovations)

by Zenon Rozycki

7

A wonderful religious experience in the land of Jesus Christ’s birth walking in His footsteps in all the Holy Christian sites in Israel.

Visit Constantinople (Istanbul) en route.

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General Intention: That the riches of the created world may be preserved, valued, and made available as God’s precious gift to all.

N his thought-provoking book The Gift, Lewis Hyde helps modern people who live in and off the market economy to understand that there is another kind of economy. He calls this the “gift economy”. In one passage illustrating the excesses of the market economy, he relates how a young girl offered one of her kidneys to her mother in exchange for a fur coat.

Why do we feel that such an exchange is simply not right? After all, everything has its price. Is it because of the mother-daughter relationship? Partly, because we assume that while the upbringing the daughter has received has cost the mother dearly, it has cost the daughter nothing.

However, there is something else. We feel that our organs should not be sold but donated, even if they are given to a complete stranger. This is because to donate an organ is to give life, and life is priceless and cannot be marketed. Blood is another example. It is a powerful symbol of life and essential to sustain it. Hence we feel strongly that it should be donated freely as a gift rather than bought and sold as a commercial commodity.

There are other things that are received freely in the gift economy—from Christmas and birthday presents to our education (from either the state or our parents), from the air we breathe and the beauty of the earth to the Gospel itself.

The continuing existence of the gift economy in a modern society in which almost everything is advertised and marketed, is a potent reminder that in fact everything (even if its production requires some work) is a gift emanating from the earth. And, since the earth is God’s creation, everything ultimately comes as a gift from God. Hence any attempt to hoard these gifts for oneself rather than spread them around for the good of all, is contrary to God’s generous plan.

We pray with the Holy Father that we may learn that the gifts of the creation should be valued and looked after properly out of respect for their creator and shared by all. We are not just consumers; we are also God’s children.

I

Universal Father Missionary Intention: That Christians may attain full unity, witnessing to all the universal fatherhood of God. N a recent Fathers’ Day message, President Barack Obama reflected on how in the United States, there were “too many fathers missing from too many homes, missing from too many lives”. He spoke about his own hardships growing up without a father, who had left his family when his son was two years old.

Mr Obama’s remarks underlined poignantly the universal human yearning for the security of a father or father-figure. Research indicates that those children for whom this yearning is fulfilled are fortunate and tend to grow up generally more secure and successful than those whose fathers have been absent or inadequate. Although his own maturity and success remind us that this disadvantage can be overcome, Mr Obama also told his audience that there is still a cost: “I still felt the weight of that absence. It’s something that leaves a hole in a child’s life that no government can fill.”

This universal yearning for a father makes it natural to place the universal fatherhood of God at the centre of our missionary work. Cyril of Jerusalem put it theologically: “God is our Father, not by nature, but by grace and by adoption.”

In our Southern African Church, which remains a missionary one, we experience a situation of a severe lack of fathers. Hence turning to God who is the father of us all is instinctive and healing. In addition, the universal fatherhood of God speaks to a context in which God the Father’s children have been fragmented and divided and need to find unity.

We pray that the universal fatherhood of God may draw his scattered and fractious children together into one functioning human family. And we pray for fathers that they may have the strength and support to be what they are called to be.

I

‘Virgin of the Lilies’ by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905)

FOCUS

The southern Cross, december 22 to december 28, 2010

9

Looking ahead to 2011 As we enter a new year, ANTHONY EGAN SJ looks at some of the challenges facing South Africa and its citizens in 2011.

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HIS year past, 2010, marked the centenary of the union of the Cape and Natal colonies and the former Boer republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State. As the Union was very much a “whites only” affair, it is unsurprising that it was not widely celebrated.

The new year 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the controversial establishment of South Africa as a republic. For the same reason it will most likely not be widely celebrated.

The more important question is what 2011 will bring to the country. Fortune-telling and astrology are not generally approved of by the Church, so I will refrain from looking into a crystal ball and rather base my forecast on emerging trends over the last few years.

Politically, we face a continuing challenge. Despite our multiparty democracy and discontent in some sectors of the country over policy and vigorous internal party debates, the African National Congress (ANC) is still thoroughly in control. What the ANC wants, the ANC largely gets.

The only significant check on the ANC is the Constitutional Court. However, giving the process of judge selection, it is a real worry that some time in the near future the court may itself come under undue influence from the ruling party.

The national economy has favoured the old and new elites.

For many, including ANC supporters, this is dangerous to both business and the integrity of the political process. Ongoing clashes of interests over government tender processes—where tenders have been awarded to party supporters, family members of parliamentarians and ANC officials—have led to accusations of cronyism and even corruption.

Corruption continues to be a serious problem. In 1996 we were rated, quite respectably, in the mid-twenties in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. In 2010 we were placed in the mid-sixties.

This is a radical drop in 15 years and seems to suggest a downward trend. Despite President Jacob Zuma’s commitment to clean up the public service and government, we hear lots of rhetoric but there is little to show in results.

On the education front, 2010 saw an admission by the minister for Basic Education that Outcomes Based Education had failed. Matric results have consistently declined since the mid-1990s, even with a range of adjustments of academic standards. Many observers say, with good evidence, that the level of literacy and numeracy of high school graduates has declined, with terrible knock-on effects at universities.

Some populist arguments about “democratising” education have been advanced, but their effect (whether intentional or not) is largely to further dumb down young people. The teachers’ strike in mid-2010 will no doubt have a further harmful result on school leavers this year.

All of this creates a further strain on the economy, which needs better educated people to function. To be a successful economy we need well-qualified professionals in leadership, as well as literate and numerate workers. With-

OLDE WORLD JEWELLERY cc

out this, the economy has to rely on skilled foreigners or on better educated minorities, all of which thwarts the legitimate desire of the government for a more representative presence of South Africans at all levels of industry and the professions.

T

he ANC’s admirable commitment to universal healthcare and social welfare is also under internal strain. Policies have not translated well into practice. The problems once again are the usual suspects: Poor education and the economy.

New clinics, poverty alleviation programmes and welfare benefits have been extended—a paradox in the present world where neoliberalism, which the ANC also endorses, has eroded much of the earlier social consensus.

Yet state hospitals remain under-resourced (both in staffing and in medicines) and welfare benefits in many, mainly rural, areas do not get to the people who need them. It is not that material resources are not there—they are just not effectively managed.

Delivery is either tied up in bureaucratic red tape, or is lacking, or is being manipulated by corrupt officials for their own benefit.

Public health is another problem: Doctors and nurses are relatively poorly paid compared to the private sector. Work conditions— shortages of resources, poor maintenance, and vulnerability to crime at work—have led many doctors to emigrate, citing poor working conditions and personal insecurity because of the nation’s high crime rate.

O

n a positive note, 2010 saw a very successful football World Cup held in South Africa. Despite our infrastructural weaknesses, we were gracious hosts and the process went off without any

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south africa hosting a successful 2010 football World Cup was a highlight on which the country can build. (Photo: Kai Pfaffenbach, CNs/Reuters) apparent hitches.

We saw an outpouring of patriotism by all South Africans, who rallied round our national team who—though they realistically had little chance of victory— acquitted themselves honourably, even beating France!

Part of this renewed patriotism was driven by the Lead SA initiative, which has continued to be one of the most inspiring new movements in the country.

Essentially a campaign based on the idea of thinking positively and looking for positive solutions to challenges, Lead SA is something that needs to be taken into the New Year with renewed energy.

Naturally we cannot run a country on world cups and Lead SA initiatives. Policy needs to be put in place and, more importantly, implemented.

Political will is needed, not just by politicians but by citizens as a

whole. As a nation we are quick to grumble, but slow to take action. If citizens demanded more of government, warning government that they existed by popular will and not some kind of divine right, we might see change in South Africa.

In the end, it all boils down to will: The will of government to deliver, and the will of the people to make government keep its promises.

More than ever, I am thinking that there is truth in the old saying that people get the government they deserve, and that a people who passively sit by and tolerate mediocrity deserve the mediocrity they get.

To return to the astrological analogy I used at the beginning of this article, the future is not to be seen in a crystal ball but in how we make our future ourselves.

■ Fr Anthony Egan SJ is a member of the Jesuit Institute in Johannesburg.

BLIND READERS OF

A contradiction?

No. A group of readers has been preparing audio tapes made up of excerpts from The Southern Cross, including Editorials, selected articles, regular features such as Father Nicholas King SJ and Chris Moerdyk, and current affairs in the Church. Anyone wanting to receive tapes as part of this FREE service is invited to contact Ms Veronica Vieyra at “Clareinch”, Union Ave., Pinelands, 7405, or phone 021-532 0661.

The Post Office will deliver and return tapes without charge. Should you know of any interested blind person, please inform them of this free service.

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We are committed as Priests or Brothers to EVANGELISATION and DEVELOPMENT in Africa, Europe, America and Asia

Join us in bringing the good news to the world Contact Father Vincent Mkhabela 0769756846 or write to Vocation Co-ordinator Comboni Study Centre, P.O. Box 73514 0040 Lynnwood Ridge, Pretoria

10

AFRICA

The southern Cross, december 22 to december 28, 2010

Sudan’s south bids for freedom The scheduled referendum on Southern Sudan’s secession places a region on the knifeedge. miKe POThieR reports on his recent visit to the region.

O

N January 9, 2011 the citizens of the Sudan’s ten southern provinces are due to vote in a referendum to determine whether Africa’s largest country will remain unified, or split into two sovereign nations.

All indications are that southerners will vote overwhelmingly to separate from the northerndominated government in Khartoum, thus creating the world’s newest country, the Republic of South Sudan.

This development is the culmination of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that brought an end to nearly 25 years of civil war in 2005.

There is a long history of animosity between north and south in the Sudan, fuelled by religious, tribal, linguistic and cultural divi-

sions. The north is largely Muslim and Arab, and for a time pursued an aggressive policy of “Islamisation” and “Arabisation” in the south, not unlike the apartheid government’s attempts in our own country 35 years ago to force black pupils to learn through the medium of Afrikaans.

Southerners tend to be either Christians or followers of traditional religions, and speak various indigenous languages. Ethnically, they belong to a variety of Nilotic tribes, the Dinka and the Nuer being the most numerous. They have firmly resisted the Khartoum government’s attempts to impose sharia law on the non-Muslim provinces.

But perhaps the starkest and most fundamental dividing line now is the fact that the south possesses considerable reserves of crude oil, as well as a massive agricultural potential, while the north remains largely desert, with few natural resources. All of the south’s oil is sent by pipeline to refineries in the north, and thence via Port Sudan, the country’s only harbour, to customers mainly in the Far East. If the

mike Pothier of the Catholic Parliamentary liaison Office and allison Coady of the denis hurley Peace institute in Pretoria with some of the clergy and Church workers who attended a governance and democracy workshop in malakal, southern sudan.

south secedes and manages to build an alternative pipeline— there is talk of one to Lamu on the coast of Kenya—the economic consequences for the north will be devastating.

Matters are further complicated by political divisions in the north, which has been under the military dictatorship of General Omar al-Bashir since 1989. Mr Bashir’s decision to sign the CPA, thus opening the way to southern secession, is unpopular among some of his senior officers and among hard-line Islamists who are ideologically committed to keeping the country unified and to imposing sharia law and Arab culture as far as possible on the south.

As January 9 approaches, people in the south are simultaneously elated at the possibility of independence after generations of conflict and oppression; and anxious that the north will find some way of delaying or manipulating the referendum.

I

n late November I had the opportunity of visiting the town of Malakal, on the Nile about halfway between the southern capital, Juba, and the national capital, Khartoum. I was there on behalf of the Denis Hurley Peace Institute to conduct a workshop on governance and democracy for an ecumenical group of priests, pastors and Church workers.

They all shared the view that the referendum date was not negotiable; if for some spurious reason the Khartoum government were to interfere with it, the southern response would be simply to declare independence.

That, of course, might well invite a military response from the north, and a return to civil war.

In a pastoral letter issued on November 14, the Sudanese Bishops note that the referendum is “intended to bring healing to our nation, to resolve the longstanding differences which have led to so many decades of tragic conflict”.

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Sudan Voting on independence for Southern Sudan begins Jan. 9.

Khartoum

Chad

Proposed border for Southern Sudan

Ethiop iopia

Abyei

Malakal

Centra tral Afr Af frican Republic

Y Keny nya ya

Congo

Uganda

But as the date approaches, the bishops are “acutely aware of the uncertainty, fear and even despair that burden the people of Sudan.

The build-up of troops on both sides of the north-south border is not conducive to peace”.

“However, these tensions need not and should not lead to war.

Regardless of the choices made and the lines drawn, peace is possible. All people of goodwill are called upon to commit themselves to respect the choices of the people of the south, and to work for a just and peaceful future for all the people of Sudan and the region.”

South African Church leaders and workers have for some time been visiting Sudan to assist with training workshops and mediation efforts, and to demonstrate solidarity with our beleaguered brothers and sisters in that country. A delegation from our bishops’ conference is expected to observe the referendum as part of

HOLY SITES TRAVEL HOLY LAND PILGRIMAGE with Fr Joseph Wilson SEPTEMBER 2011 Organised by Kevin & Debbie Contact: Elna Ferreira on 082 975 0034, E-Mail: elna@holysites.co.za, Website: www.holysites.co.za

©2010 CNS

the huge international presence that will seek to ensure a fair process and a reliable outcome.

As for the rest of us, we are invited to join Sudanese Catholics in placing the future of their country in the hands of God. The following prayer is being said at Masses all over Sudan in the runup to the referendum: Lord Jesus, you who said to us, “I leave you peace, my peace I give to you”, look upon us your sisters and brothers in Sudan as we face this moment of referendum.

Send us your spirit to guide us.

Give us the wisdom we need to choose our future, where we will know your true peace.

You call us out of slavery, oppression and persecution so that we may have life in abundance. Grant us peace with one another. Give peace among ethnic groups. Help us to work together for the good of all.

We ask this in your name, Jesus our Lord, Amen.

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The southern Cross, december 22 to december 28, 2010

Sr Kevin Byrne HC

S

Sr Byrne, always very talented in music and drama, taught hundreds of pupils during her long teaching career in 11 Holy Cross schools throughout South Africa, Namibia and Zambia.

She also delighted, even beyond her 90th year, in presenting her own items, usually humorous ones, to entertain her fellow Sisters at celebrations.

Sr Byrne had a great sense of humour, a fund of jokes and funny stories, and the knack of responding to people with witty remarks accompanied by a very serious expression.

Sr Byrne was kindly, diligent and very devoted to prayer.

When she promised to pray for someone, she was in the habit of praying for that person every day and never forgot to ask how they were doing.

Her most favourite saint was Padre Pio To place your event, call Claire Allen at 021 465 5007

ISTER Mary Kevin Byrne, who died November 8, was born one of twin sisters, on June 9, 1917 in Limerick, Ireland.

At the age of 18, on May 21 1936, the feast of the Ascension, she travelled to Belfast in the Northern Ireland to become a candidate of the Holy Cross Sisters with the intention of becoming a missionary Sister in Africa.

In 1937, she set out by boat for South Africa, with four companions, to enter the novitiate at Holy Cross Convent, Aliwal North.

After her First Profession on January 5, 1939, she was assigned to teach music at Holy Cross, Kokstad.

Community Calendar

and she turned to him often, especially when she found herself in some sort of a fix.

In 1996, at almost 80, she retired to Holy Cross Home in Pretoria where she was a happy, prayerful and humorous presence, taking every opportunity to entertain the Sisters with some amusing story and joke.

She was heartbroken when her beloved nephew, Kevin Rochford, was murdered outside his own home in Cape Town a few years ago.

At the age of 92, her health began to deteriorate. She bore ill-health and weakness with equanimity and deep faith.

Sr Byrne died peacefully at Holy Cross Convent, Lady Selborne, Pretoria.

She had been a Holy Cross Sister for 71 years. She was buried in the Holy Cross Sisters’ plot at Zandfontein Cemetery Pretoria.

By Sr Maureen Rooney HC

or e-mail c.allen@scross.co.za (publication subject to space)

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 Hour to pray for priests of the diocese, 2nd saturday monthly at Villa maria shrine Kloof Nek Rd, 16:00-17:00.

Good Shepherd, Bothasig. Perpetual eucharistic adoration in our chapel. all hours. all welcome.

DURBAN: St Anthony’s, Durban Central: Tuesday 9.00am mass with novena to st anthony. First Friday 5.30pm mass—divine mercy novena prayers.

Tel: 031 309 3496

JoHANNESBURG: 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 First Saturday of each month rosary prayed 10:30-12:00 outside marie stopes abortion clinic, Peter Place, Bryanston. Joan Beyrooti, 011 782 4331 PREToRIA: First Saturday: devotion to divine mercy. st martin de Porres, sunnyside, 16:30. Tel shirley-anne 012 361 4545.

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Family Reflections DECEMBER—THE PRIZE, A GIFT 28th Holy Innocents: The babies killed in Bethlehem by Herod in his envy are like the thousands of innocent babies killed through abortion every year. Promote and value the culture of life in all possible ways.

31st New Year’s Eve: The year ends on a note of thanksgiving. Was it a game well played, played according to the rules and who won the prize?

Some will have died and gained eternal life. Most of us will continue to play on and aim for the prize of eternal life which in fact has already started for each of us. Look back over the year’s events and moments of joy and pain, share the growth of the journey and give thanks to God and to one another for how we all contributed.

Liturgical Calendar Sun, Dec 26, Holy Family Sir 3:2-6, 12-14; Ps 128:1-5; Col 3:12-21 or 3:12-17; Mt 2:13-15, 19-23 Mon, Dec 27, St John Apostle 1 Jn 1:1-4; Ps 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12; Jn 20:1-8 Tues, Dec 28,The Holy Innocents 1 Jn 1:5-2:2; Ps 124:2-5, 7-8; Mt 2:13-18 Wed, Dec 29, St Thomas Becket 1 Jn 2:3-11; Ps 96:1-6; Lk 2:22-35 Thurs, Dec 30, feria 1 Jn 2:12-17; Ps 96:7-10; Lk 2:36-40 Fri, Dec 31, St Sylvester 1 Jn 2:18-21; Ps 96:1-2, 11-13; Jn 1:1-18 Sat, Jan 1, Mary, mother of God Nm 6:22-27; Ps 67: 1-3, 5-6, 8; Gal 4: 4-7; Lk 2: 16-21 Sun Jan 2, Ephiphany of the Lord Is 60:1-6; Ps 72: 2, 7-8,10-13; Eph 3:2-3, 5-6; Mt 2: 1-12

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CLASSIFIEDS Births • First Communion • Confirmation • engagement/marriage • Wedding anniversary • Ordination jubilee • Congratulations • deaths • in memoriam • Thanks • Prayers • accommodation • holiday accommodation • Personal • services • employment • Property • Others Please include payment (R1,15c a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS DU ToIT—Rene and elayne wish all their family, friends and m.i.Q. family a Blessed Christmas and may 2011 be a year of Peace, Joy and love.

IN MEMoRIAM JAMES–Peter. Passed away december 2009. lovingly remembered by his parents, his children and brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces. also by all his good friends around the country. Rest in peace.

CARLISLE–Kathleen. in loving memory of our dear mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, who died suddenly on december 24, 2004, at the age of 94. You have passed on but you’re a wonderful example of love and dedication to God, family and community and heritage.

You were always there when we needed you and your purity of heart and loving generosity will long be remembered. Greatly missed and never forgotten by your children Francis, Philipps, John, athalie and grandchildren.

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PRAYERS o GLoRIoUS apostle st Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the name of the traitor who delivered thy beloved master into the hands of his enemies has caused thee to be forgotten by many, but the church honors and invokes thee universally as the Patron of hopeless cases, of things almost despaired of. Pray for me who am so helpless and alone. make use, i implore thee, of that particular privilege granted to thee to bring visible and speedy help where help was almost despaired of. Come to my assistance in this great need, that i may receive the consolation and succor of heaven in all my necessities, tribulations and sufferings, but in particular that…(here make your intention) and that i may praise God with thee and with all the saints forever. i promise thee, O Blessed st Jude, to be forever mindful of this great favor and never cease to honor thee as my special and powerful patron and to do all in my power gratefully to encourage devotion to thee. amen.

Thank you for prayers answered. Bernie.

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Views, braai, 3beds , sleeps 5-7. Central and secure. Phone 074 190 5634, gailellis@telkom sa.net SoUTH CoAST: 3 bedroom house, marine drive, Uvongo Tel: donald 031 465 5651, 073 989 1074.

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Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO #424. SOLUTIONS TO #424. ACROSS: 1 Ages, 3 Scaffold, 9 Oviform, 10 Aglow, 11 Bottle-opener, 13 Middle, 15 In blue, 17 Translations, 20 Kenya, 21 Elegiac, 22 Elements, 23 Once. DOWN: 1 Atom bomb, 2 Exist, 4 Common, 5 Fraternities, 6 Oil well, 7 Dawn, 8 Noble lineage, 12 Versicle, 14 Derange, 16 Albert, 18 Orion, 19 Skye.

REMEMBERING OUR DEAD

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

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

Ph 021 637 1938 after hours 021 701 2692.

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

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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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Feast of the Epiphany (Jan 2) Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:2a, 78, 10-13, Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6, Matthew 2:1-12

N

EXT Sunday we in this country celebrate the feast of the Epiphany, which continues the celebration of Christmas, with the reflection that the Jesus at whose coming we rejoice means good news, not just to those who already believe (Jews and Christians) but also to those who hardly understand what we are saying or know what we are doing.

Look at the first reading for the solemnity. It encourages us to “rise, shine, for your light has come”, and celebrates the disappearance of the darkness and thick cloud (at this time of year this may be more relevant to the northern than to the southern hemisphere, of course); but the joy is really for others: “Gentiles are going to walk in your light,” the prophet sings, “...the wealth of Gentiles shall come to you.” Then we are given the lovely picture of affluent foreigners who “will carry gold

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In search of the new-born king Nicholas King SJ sunday Reflections and frankincense [an idea that is echoed, of course, in today’s gospel] and shall proclaim the glory of the Lord”.

The psalm is written for the coronation of a King of Judah, but it too envisages outsiders being welcomed in, “May he rule from Sea to Sea” (from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, in other words), “from the River Euphrates to the ends of the earth” (somewhere near Gibraltar, I suppose). The poet is quite clear about the universality of the message: “All kings shall worship him, all gentiles serve him.” This is not, however, any old imperialism, for this king is

reminded that his task is to “rescue the needy, care for the poor and the needy”.

This is a message that is to reach all humanity.

The second reading carries on this theme of the universality of the message.

In summary, the Ephesians are simply told what it means: “The Gentiles are fellowheirs, and fellow-parts-of-the-body, and fellow-sharers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

This truth is then given dramatic expression in the g ospel. It starts off in a narrowly Jewish context: “Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the King.”

Then the scene shifts to Jerusalem, and the arrival of just the kind of funny foreigners that the previous texts have been talking about. And they ask a most indiscreet question, about “one born King of the Jews”.

The question is tactless because there is

a king of the Jews, happily reigning, and his name is Herod, and he has a very short way with aspirants to his throne (even butchering several of his sons whom he suspected of plotting to succeed him).

Interestingly, he and his court clearly believe in this message, or they would not try so hard to find out where the Messiah was to be born.

So Herod opts for murder, while these Gentiles make the choice to “worship”, with gold and frankincense and myrrh.

While we are still worrying about these simple-minded magi, and whether they are going to rush back to Herod and blurt out where they found Jesus, they are effortlessly removed from the stage, and “it was by another route that they returned to their country”.

Are we, this week, prepared to share the good news of our lately-born Christ with those who do not know about him?

Look before you leap A

S the year draws to a close many of us will probably be thinking ahead to 2011 and praying as hard as we can for our political, social and business leaders to have wisdom enough for this country to prosper in an atmosphere of peace, tranquillity and morality.

The fact that not just this country but the world at large is so devoid of peace, tranquillity and especially morality suggests that there is not too much wisdom around these days.

Certainly, it seems to me that today almost everyone in power far prefers greed and wealth over wisdom. Unlike the Jesuits, for whom wisdom is a stock in trade.

I remember reading some time ago about one Jesuit in particular who was a wonderful storyteller and from whom politicians, business managers and parents could learn a thing or two about wisdom.

Fr Anthony de Mello spent much of his life in India and delighted in local folklore. His favourite story was about an old farmer who had only one horse that he used for tilling his fields. One day it escaped into the hills.

The farmer’s neighbours sympathised over his bad luck to which the farmer replied: “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?”

A week later his horse reappeared leading a herd of wild horses down the hills.

Chris Moerdyk The last Word The farmer’s neighbours congratulated him on his good luck.

“Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?” said the farmer.

A week later, when his son was trying to tame one of the wild horses, he fell and broke his leg. Everyone thought that was really bad luck. Again he responded with “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?”

A month later the army marched in and conscripted every able-bodied youth in the community with the exception of the fellow with the broken leg. Before his neighbours could get a word in edgewise the farmer gave them the “Good luck?

Bad luck? Who knows?” treatment.

And so Fr de Mello’s story continued.

However, as Jesuit priests are not constricted by space and time as I am, I’ll have to cut the long story short and get to the point a lot quicker than he did.

The moral of the story is that the farmer was relying on his gift of wisdom to allow time to tell whether any of these incidents turned out at the end to be good or bad luck.

Conrad

“IT'S 2010 BURNOUT!”

What can we learn from all this? Well, first of all it, it might be a lesson to all those who tend to indulge in knee-jerk decision-making to first take a breath, count to ten, and think about what they’re doing.

The story also lends credence to that well-worn cliché of travelling salesmen: “Hey, that’s not a problem; that’s an opportunity.” Sounds corny, I know, but those who practise this maxim are doing nothing more than applying their gift of wisdom. Something everybody has but of which few seem to make any use.

Another lesson might be for those who believe that today’s world is the domain of youth and that anyone over the age of 50 should be put out to pasture.

One thing is for sure: That farmer wasn’t exactly a teenager and perhaps what he was demonstrating to his impetuous neighbours was that life, business, politics, sport—you name it—is best pursued by combining the exuberance of youth with the wisdom of age.

Generally speaking, wisdom improves with age and is priceless in terms of not re-inventing wheels nor making the same old mistakes.

As the 19th Century English cleric, writer and collector Charles Caleb Colton said: “It is better to have wisdom without learning than to have learning without wisdom. Just as it is better to be rich without being the possessor of a mine, than to be the possessor of a mine without being rich.”

The most valuable component of wisdom is that it tends to overcome selfish perspectives—one of the most virulent cancers of society and which hampers productivity, personal growth and heaven knows how many other things. Not to mention one of the most gregarious feeders that gnaw away at governments, society, business and family life.

People such as business managers, for example, who simply cannot bring themselves to praise good work by those below them, lack the wisdom of knowing that saying “thank you” is not exposing a weakness in themselves, but cementing a bond of loyalty and motivation.

Wisdom, of course, is also great for keeping one out of trouble. Wisdom foresees consequence.

Such as the happily married Scot who was accosted by a prostitute on his way home from work one night. “Och, wouldya sleep wi’ me for ten pound Jimmie?”

“Aye, I could use th’ money”, he said, “but I’m nae tired.”

May your new year be filled with wisdom.

Southern Crossword #424

ACROSS 1. See 13 across 3. Platform for many martyrs (8) 9. Outline of the Easter egg (7) 10. Glimmering like sanctuary lamp (5) 11. Be prone to let wine out (66) 13 and 1 across. Times central to Church history (6,4) 15. Gershwins’s Rhapsody (2,4) 17. They render the Greek text intelligible (12) 20. Some liken yacht to this country (5) 21. Relating to mournful poem, e g Alice (7) 22. When they’re bad, so is the weather (8) 23. Single event (4)

DOWN 1. Weapon of mass destruction (4,4) 2. Simply be (5) 4. Not a rare Anglican prayer book (6) 5. If in retreats, find the brothers there (12) 6. Sink it to get matter for anointing (3,4) 7. Girl at daybreak (4) 8. Aristocratic pedigree (5,7) 12. Service L gets congregational response (8) 14. Angered to make insane (7) 16. Dominican saint who is great (6) 18. You can see his belt above (5) 19. Over and above Scottish isle? (4) Answers on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

A

PRIEST once asked for a special collection saying that the church needed a wall around the graveyard. The finance committee was not too happy.

They rejected the priest’s plea with the argument: “There is no real need to build such a wall around the cemetry, because those inside can never get out, and those outside don’t want to go in!” send us your favourite Catholic joke, preferably clean and brief, to The southern Cross, Church Chuckle, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.

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The southern Cross, december 22 to december 28, 2010

FOCUS

The southern Cross, december 22 to december 28, 2010

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